Different than you
by dansen fan
Summary: Arata and Reika always knew that they were different from other children. They have powers, powers that can either destroy the world or save it. Unfortunately, they were called monsters because of that. They never felt welcomed at all... Now, they are on a mission that can change their lives. PS: wiser, mysterious and more serious Arata. Please review.
1. Chapter 1

Arata could only smirk as he, Reika and Hikaru walked closer to the school where they will be studying for the next few months. Hikaru was saying something about admissions, but he did not care about that and walked up to the gates. Reika followed his suit, leaving Hikaru alone.

Hikaru frowned as he looked at Arata and Reika's stats on his tab again. So far, none of their records could be found except they had won three tournaments, but there was no information about the tournaments they won; also, although they claimed to be brother and sister, they do not have any resemblance to each other. He smirked slightly. 'Looks like things are going to get interesting.'

He followed them just as a guard was confirming their identities.

"Now, please leave any LBXs, CCMs, or other portable devices you have here." One of the guards told them and they complied without any questions.

They continued to walk until they reached the front entrance where two teachers were already there to greet them.

"Honshihara Hikaru, Sena Arata, follow me." Mito–sensei ordered the two of them while the other, Higurashi-sensei motioned for Reika to follow her, which she did.

They walked along the corridors of the school for a while before they stopped in front of one of the classes and to be honest, Reika was not looking forward to it.

* * *

"Today, we have a new addition to our class, Sena Reika." Higurashi-sensei introduced.

Reika glanced around the class shyly and bowed. "Nice to meet you, I am Sena Reika. Yoroshiku."

"Reika, you can sit at the empty seat beside Suzune." Higurashi-sensei turned to the said girl. "Suzune."

Suzune raised her hand. "Hai. Over here." Suzune gestured to the seat beside her.

Reika smiled a bit and went over to the seat. "Thanks."

* * *

During recess, Suzune and Takeru decided to take Reika under their wing and showed her around the school.

"And finally, this is the canteen." Suzune said as she concluded the tour. "I'm sure that you will find what you like to eat here."

"Um...thanks." Reika said. She has come to like Suzune and Takeru.

"So, what do you want to eat?" Takeru asked her. REika thought for a moment and shook her head. "I'm good."

Takeru and Suzune exchanged surprised looks and shrugged. "If you say so."

Reika glanced at her watch and frowned. "Gommen, but I have to be at somewhere else now. I'll see you back at class."She waved and ran off before Suzune and Takeru could say anything.

* * *

Meanwhile, Arata was wandering around the school grounds on his own. 'I wonder how Reika is doing.'

"Arata."

He turned around and smiled a bit when he saw his sister walking up to him. "How's class?"

Reika shrugged. "They were fine, you?"

Arata also shrugged. "I could say the same thing."

Reika glanced back at the school. "So, what do you think about the whole thing?" She gestured at the school.

Arata closed his eyes. "The school is not as good as our last... (Reika could have sworn she saw him smirk.), and I really think that the whole concept of the school is sickening."

Reika could not help but nod her head. Little did they know that someone was listening to them.

"They use kids like us to fight proxy wars, how heartless could they get." Reika spat.

Arata's eyes snapped open and he glared at the school darkly. "This world is already heartless. We should not be surprise about this."

Reika looked at her brother nervously for whenever he was in that mood, it was not good. "Arata, calm down. We cannot let other students know that we know. Besides, a world with no heartless people is a _fantasy."_

Arata smirk when he heard the hidden meaning behind her words. "Yeah." He glanced at his watch. "We should get back to class now."

Reika nodded and walked back to the school building, a little while later, Arata followed.

The person who was listening to them stepped out of the shadows. 'Just who are you, Sena Arata and Sena Reika?' Muraku wondered. Earlier, he had heard about them and decided to look up on them in case they would be threats to Rossius, but ended up learning something else.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

As Mito-sensei brought Reika, Arata and Hikaru down to the Second World, the other students were gathering in their own briefing rooms. In Harness' briefing room, an interesting conversation was going on among the 1st platoon.

"Ne, which LBX do you think Reika would choose?" Suzune asked Takeru and Inui. Takeru folded his arms across his chest and thought for a moment. "If I have to choose, I would say Siren. She mentioned to me that she is more comfortable with using strider frame LBXs."

"Demo, would the commander approve of it?" Inui wondered.

The chatter died down when Higurashi-sensei came in with Reika.

"Firstly, for you to join War Time, you will have to choose which LBX you want to use, Siren, DC Offenser, DC Braver, or DC Aerial." Higurashi-sensei told Reika.

Reika looked thoughtful for a moment and made her decision. "I would like to use Siren."

Takeru nudged Suzune. "I told you so."

"However, I think it is better that you use a DC Offencer."

Everyone looked up and saw a young man in his late teens with black hair and a white streak at the bangs, and red eyes.

"Commander."

Reika looked mildly surprise at him. "Kaidou Jin." SHe muttered.

"I understand that you are more use to using Strider Frame LBXs, but, given the way that you battle, I believe that you would find DC Offencer more suited to your fighting style." Jin explained.

Reika carefully considered his words before nodding. "I see. In that case, I will use DC Offencer."

Jin nodded and begun to address the students. " Today's mission is to capture the point at Reefside Fort. Arabista is expecting us to attack there, so be on guard. 1st and 2nd platoon are to create a diversion at the East Side of the Fort in order for the 4th platoon to capture the point. 3rd platoon is to step in wherever needed."

"Don't worry," Inui whispered to Reika when he saw how nervous she was. "Just stick with me and Suzune and we will be fine."

Reika nodded but was still a bit doubtful about it.

* * *

The students exited the briefing room and went to their respective control pods. The moment Reika stepped into her control pod, she let out a shaky breath. 'Calm down, you can do it.'

"Reika."

Reika jumped a bit when she heard Takeru call out to her. "Hai?"

She could hear Takeru chuckle a bit over the line. "Just checking on you. You know how to operate your control pod, don't you?"

"Yeah," Reika nodded even though she knew that Takeru could not see her. "This is not the first time I have to use a control pod."

"Souka, if you have any difficulties, just let us know." Takeru told her.

Reika paused a bit. 'Why are they so nice to me? I am not like them...Would they still be nice to me if they found out?'

* * *

Meanwhile, Arata was wondering about the same thing as his DC Offencer was transported to the Second World. 'Although Mito-sensei and Haruki are strict and Hikaru is a bit cold to me, almost everyone in class is nice to me. Is this the right thing...to lie to them?' Arata shook his head to get those thoughts out of his head. 'Stop it, Arata. You are not here to make friends, but to complete Maddie's mission.'

"Arata, is everything alright?" Haruki asked through the intercom.

"Yeah."

"Don't get distracted. We are landing soon."

Arata raised an eyebrow. He was so engross with his thoughts that he did not notice that they had arrived at their destination. As soon as they landed, they dashed to engage the enemy, well, with Hikaru disobeying Haruki's orders. To be honest, he was not doing well because he was not use to using his DC Offencer. "Che, it's so hard to use it."

'I wonder how is Reika doing?'

* * *

Reika on the other hand was faring a bit better.

'Kaidou-sensei was right. It's much better to use DC Offencer.' She thought as she trashed a Vernel. In fact, her personality took a 180 degrees change now that she was battling, which surprised Suzune, Inui and Takeru.

"Good. The enemy is coming here as planed." Inui said. "Suzune, take the one on the right, I'll take the one on the left, Reika, back us up. The 2nd platoon will take care of the rest."

"Understood."

Reika backed up a bit to let Suzune and Inui defeat the enemy and give them the backup they need. A frown crept up her face when she spotted a Vernel trying to sneak up on Suzune.

"Suzune, behind you!" She cried as she shovelled her DC Aerial away just as the Vernel fired at her. Suzune and Reika sighed in relief.

"Are the both of you alright?" Inui asked as he approached them. Reika nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

"Thanks for saving me." Suzune thanked her.

Reika rubbed her head sheepishly. "Don't mention it."

An alarm went off at that moment.

_"The point has been captured. Please cease all fighting. The ownership of Reefside Fort will be transferred from Arabista to Harness..." _A mechanical voice called out.

"We did it!" Suzune cheered.

Reika smiled. 'I wonder if Arata is doing as well as we are here.'

* * *

Sadly, she was a bit mistaken. Arata was still trying to figure out how to use his new LBX properly.

It did not take long before Haruki notice this. "Arata, if you do not know how to use your LBX properly, just sit out on this mission."

Arata frowned. "And leave you alone to them, not a chance. Just tell me how to use it properly and I can fight!"

Haruki sighed. "Fine."

As they fought, Haruki told Arata the basics of using his DC Offencer.

"...Can you use your LBX now?"

Arata nodded "Yeah."

As Arata fought, Haruki was surprised on how fast he could pick up. 'He could actually use DC Offencer that well after just telling him about the basic controls.'

Hikaru also watched him, feeling a bit jealous at his skills.

_"The point has been captured. Please cease all fighting. The ownership of Oasis 3 will be transferred from Rossius to Jenock..." _The same mechanical voice called out.

Arata sighed as he stepped out of his control pod and followed Haruki to the briefing room. On the way there, he decided to use telepathy to communicate with Reika. _'How bad was it?'_

He could hear a mental chuckle from Reika. _'What makes you think that I am having a bad time like you are? We won here actually.'_

Arata mentally groaned. _'We won too, but I had a hard time using my new LBX.'_

_'Well, that does sound bad. I'll see you later at the gates and we can talk about it.'_

_'Sure, gotta go now.'_ Arata cut off the communication when they reached the briefing room.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

Reika sighed for the hundredth time as she waited for Arata to come out. 'What's taking him so long?'

Finally fed up with it, she decided to send her thoughts to him. _'Arata! What's taking you so long? Suzune and Takeru have already went to the dorms already!'_

_'Calm down Reika.' _Arata calmly relayed his thoughts to her. _'I'm just coming out. By the way, I got company.'_

Reika huffed. _'You and company? I thought you prefer to be by yourself.'_

She could practically see Arata roll his eyes. _'Unless you know the way to the dorms, I would ditch them.'_

_'Fine.'_ She mentally groaned. She glanced at the main entrance and was rather surprise that Arata and Hikaru were following a girl with brown hair and green eyes. In fact she reminded her of Arata's late girlfriend!

"Reika," Arata snapped her out of her thoughts as they came over. "Sorry, we got held up a bit." He glanced over at Yuno's curious face and his serious face nearly softened. Like Reika, he also felt that Yuno reminded him of Maddie. "This is Yuno. Yuno, this is my sister, Reika."

Reika smiled shyly and extended her hand out. "Nice to meet you."

Yuno smiled back and shook Reika's hand. "Like your brother said, I'm Yuno, class 2-5's vice president and a member of the 4th platoon."

"Souka." Reika smiled pleasantly. "So, which LBX did you get, Arata?"

Arata dug into his pocket and drew out his LBX. "DC Offencer."

Reika clapped her hands together. "I got the same too."

Arata raised an eyebrow. "I see." He muttered.

"But, it looks like you had problems in operating it." Hikaru remarked.

"And you got scolded by Haruki for disobeying his orders." Arata retorted. Reika stiffed a giggle. There was not one time that she remembered that Arata did not have a retort for anything.

"Haruki wants you two to stand on your own as soon as possible." Yuno explained. "That's why he's so strict. Oh, and because he is the class president too. But, don't think bad of him, ok?"

Arata shrugged. "Well, I'm use to facing strict people. They maybe hard on us, but in the end, they are real softies underneath and care for our welfare."

Yuno giggled a bit. "That sounds like the proper way to say it. Some stuff happened to him recently..."

"What stuff?" Arata asked curiously.

"You'll know sooner or later." Yuno said mysteriously. Reika stared at her. Other than appearances, Yuno's personality was absolutely nothing like Maddie's.

They continued to walk in silence until they reached town.

"How do you like the island?" Yuno asked them as they passed some shops.

Arata looked around for a moment. "It's nice considering that it doesn't have the hassles of a city."

Noticing Yuno and Hikaru's curious faces, Reika decided to do a bit of explaining. "We grew up in a town until we were eight and went to boarding school. So, we really don't like cities."

Yuno slowly smiled. "He~, you went to a boarding school before. If that's so, then, I think you can easily adapt to studying here."

Reika gave her a small smile before she noticed something. "Say, I noticed that the students in other classes have different uniform colours."

Arata and Hikaru thought for a moment before nodded.

"Now that you mentioned it, you're right." Arata said.

"The colour of your uniform depends on the virtual country you are aligned with." Yuno explained. "The grey uniforms you see everywhere belong to the Rossius Federation. The ones in khaki are part of the Arabista Allied Forces."

"So, the purple ones are from Harness?" Reika asked.

Yuno nodded. "Yup, you are in Harness, aren't you?"

Reika nodded. "Yes."

"See you later, Yuno." A blonde girl wearing the same uniform as Yuno waved as she ran past them.

Yuno waved back and continued to explain. "And the ones in navy are us, Jenock."

Arata nodded in understanding as he processed this information in his brain.

* * *

After meeting the dorm leader of the Duck Manor and getting their rooms, Reika discovered that she had the room all to herself unless Harness gets a new addition.

'Boy, it's a good thing I get the room all to myself...but then Arata has to share a room with Hikaru...I wonder how is he doing?' Reika wondered as she unpacked her things. She took a good look at her room. There was two beds and desks, one for each occupant, and the window gave her a good view of the sea.

"Hope it stays this way." She muttered to herself as she did not want anyone to find out about her secret just yet. She sighed and held up her hand. A water sphere formed in it and she glared at it.

Suddenly, someone knocked on her door, causing her to lose focus and the water sphere vanished into thin air with a pop.

"Reika, are you alright? What was that pop sound?" Suzune's voice came through the door.

Reika did some quick thinking. "Nothing, I just dropped something."

"I see. Supper is almost starting; do you want to go together?"

"Alright."

Reika sighed in relief as she went to the door. 'That was a close one.'

* * *

As Reika ate her supper, she thought about all that happened today and could not help but feel impress with her new school despite her discussion with Arata earlier that day.

"Ne, Reika," Takeru interrupted her train of thought. "How did you find your first day here?"

Reika swallowed her food before answering. "It's good. The atmosphere is a bit friendlier than my last school."

"How so?" Inui asked her.

Reika contemplated on this for a while and decided to tell them. "My last school was a martial arts boarding school...So, we tend to get a little competitive and it is not often that we have friends unless you are family."

Their eyes went wide at her explanation.

Takeru was the first to speak. "Wow, you know martial arts?"

"Since I was eight." Reika said in an offhanded way like it was not a big deal. "It's not a big deal. Arata and I just felt that we needed to take care of ourselves, so we decided to learn martial arts."

"So, what is the name of the school?" Inui asked curiously.

"I don't think you would have heard it before, but it is Fantasy Academy. And don't ask me about the name, I have no idea why in the world would they name the school like that." Reika warned them.

* * *

Over at Arata's table, it was rather quiet considering that all of them except for Sakuya were not the type to start a conversation.

"Say Arata, who is the girl with auburn hair and green eyes you were talking with earlier?" Sakuya asked curiously.

"My sister, Reika." Arata answered shortly.

Haruki and Sakuya glanced at him then at Reika and back at Arata.

"Um, no offence, but you and your sister don't seem to have any resemblance in any way." Sakuya carefully chose his words.

"I notice that too." Hikaru remarked.

Arata's eyes darkened for a moment but quickly became normal as he spoke. "We're adopted."

An awkward silence fell upon them but Arata just carried on with his meal like it was not a big deal. However, Haruki could have sworn that he saw a flicker of sadness in his eyes.

"I'm done." Arata announced as he picked up his tray and walked off. Hikaru followed him not long after.

When he was sure that Arata was out of earshot, Haruki whispered to Sakuya. "Say, I noticed that Arata and Reika have similar necklaces like my cousin that went missing two years ago, do you think that these things are related?"

"I don't know, but it is best to keep an eye on them." Sakuya whispered back. "Or we can ask them if they had seen her before."

Haruki was a bit uncertain about the suggestion but decided to ask when the both of them were settled down.

Unbeknown to them, Reika had heard the whole thing thanks to her enhanced hearing. 'It looks like I have homework tonight.'


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

Reika yawned as she flopped on her bed. Although she wanted to do some research on Haruki's cousin, she was really tired from the long day. But then, her curiosity got the better of her.

"Just an hour." She muttered. "Then I can sleep."

She took off her necklace which had a yellow and green circle with a blue lightning bolt at the centre, there was also a bubble print behind the circle and pressed her thumb on the lightning bolt to let it scan her fingerprint.

_"Voice Recognition."_ A barely audible automate voice came from the necklace as it glowed red.

"Sena Reika." Reika said softly.

_"Voice recognition accepted." _

Reika turned off the lights and locked her door as a screen and keyboard hologram appeared from her necklace. All students from the Fantasy Academy were required to have the necklace with the academy's symbol and their element printed on it. It had a communicator and CPU built into it.

She tapped a few things onto the keyboard and she was online. 'Good, now, just who in the world could be Izumo Haruki's cousin?'

As she scrolled down the list of the names of the students both past and present, she could not help but notice that there was one student who seem to resemble Haruki a little.

'No way! It can't be her!' Reika thought as she stared at the name of the student. Maddie Lockheart.

* * *

Arata woke up the next day at the insistent vibration of his alarm watch. He groggily pressed a button on the side of the watch to stop the vibrations. '5:30 am, too early.'

However, he still got up because he knew that if he did not keep up with his practice, his teacher would surely pull him out and put him back into his old training classes.

A small smirk crept up his lips. '_Reika, are you awake?'_

_'I am now.' _A grumble reply came. _'Isn't it a bit too early?'_

_'Remember, we have to keep up with our lessons, or...'_

_ 'I'm awake!'_

Arata chuckled softly as he imagined Reika's reaction to his threat. He quietly got dress as not to wake up Hikaru and left. When Arata stepped out of the dorms, Reika was already waiting for him with a scowl on her face.

"You just had to remind me about it." Reika grumbled as she jogged along the path to the park.

Arata shrugged as he kept up with her. "You were getting lazy for the past few weeks, so, I would say that this would be necessary for you."

Reika muttered something incoherent and pulled ahead of her brother. Arata only rolled his eyes but smiled at the girl who was his sister in anything but blood. Ever since their foster parents died, Arata did his best to protect her in every way.

* * *

"Arata, all I can say is that you're going down!" Reika jumped and kicked at him several times, all which he blocked. He dodged another kick and did a low sweep, knocking Reika off her feet. But at the last minute, she stood on her hands and twisted her body to give Arata a good hard kick in the chest and got back up.

"Looks like you're still game." Arata grinned, despite the bruise growing on his chest.

Reika smirked in return. "Not bad for someone who is lazy, huh?"

Arata slowly nodded. "Yeah, but not good enough!" He rushed at her and did a roundhouse kick at her side and brought his other leg up to kick her head, which she jerked backwards to avoid his feet.

"Seriously, when was the last time you washed your shoes?" Reika joked as she grabbed Arata's arm and flipped him over her shoulder...only for him to land on his feet and flip her instead, catching her off guard.

"Looks like I win again." Arata smirked as he hauled Reika up.

"No fair. You caught me off guard." Reika pouted.

Arata rolled his eyes and smiled. "Life is not fair. You said that, remember?"

Reika opened her mouth to retort, but closed it. It has been a long time since Arata smiled like that, not since Maddie died.

* * *

During War Time that afternoon, Reika and her platoon were not assigned to any missions, so they decided to head to the viewing room.

"Man, it's so boring with no missions." Suzune complained.

"I'm fine with it. It gives us a chance to observe how things go instead on the field." Reika nudged her.

"Demo it's still boring." Suzune whined, earning a sigh from Inui.

"Oh yeah, where is Takeru anyway?" Reika asked when she noticed that their mechanic was not with them.

"He's probably at the lab or late." Inui told her.

"So," Suzune came to a halt. "Which viewing room should we go to?"

"Kaidou-sensei told us earlier to go to watch Jenock." Inui spoke up.

Reika's ears twitched slightly at that. 'Jenock, huh?'

"Then, we should go to that one, right?" Suzune pointed at one of the doors. Inui only nodded and they went inside. It was very crowded inside that they barely managed to find seats.

"I wonder what the occasion is. Normally no one comes to watch Jenock unless there is something going to happen." Suzune remarked.

"It looks like Rossius is planning something on Jenock by the looks of it." Reika said as her eyes swept through the room, noting that majority of the students there were from Rossius.

"It seems that Jenock doesn't have any idea what we have in store for them." One of Rossius' student whispered to his companion as three DC Offensers flew beside the train to guard it.

"Yeah, by the time they come to their senses, they would be LOST and their cargo will be ours." His companion whispered back.

Despite the fact that they were far from Reika, she could hear every word of it thanks to her enhanced hearing. She smirked at what she heard. If they were going to underestimate Arata, they will be in for a big surprise.

"Oi, look at that!" Suzune pointed at the screen.

Arata's DC Offenser was grabbed by a Gunther who swung its sword down, only for Arata's unit to punch it away. His DC Offenser then grabbed the arm holding his and flipped the LBX overhead, which caused it to land with a crash, making it break over.

Reika winced a bit when the Gunther crashed. "If it was a real person that he flipped, then that would hurt real badly."

Inui and Suzune gave her a strange look but continue to focus on the fight. In the end, Rossius retreated and Jenock continued on their mission.

"Oi, maji?" The same student from just now gasped. "He took down Marco's Gunther with no effort and Marco is one of our best players."

"Let's go, there is nothing good to watch now." His companion nudged him and they left. Reika wished that she had a camera for their faces were so comical.

"Wow, that move was so cool." Suzune squealed.

"Reika, when you said that the move would hurt a person real badly, were you kidding?" Inui asked her sceptically.

Reika shook her head. "Nope, and I got bruises from this morning to prove it."

"Then I would not like to get on your brother's wrong side." Inui shrudded.


	5. Chapter 5

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

"Oh come on!" Reika groaned as she fell down when Arata made a low sweep at her feet, tripping her. "Why am I always ending up on the ground?!"

Arata shrugged. "Maybe it's because you stopped practice for a long time already."

"So did you." Reika pointed out and grunted as she sat up. "So far, it looks like our scores are even, 100 to 100."

Arata nodded as he hauled her up. "Hopefully we can get some interesting missions today. Yesterday's was a bore."

"But a lot of people were impressed with that overhead flip you did during War Time yesterday." Reika pointed out.

Arata shrugged. "That was just like a warm up." He suddenly tensed when he heard something. "Who's there?!"

There was no reply for a moment but Jin stepped out from behind a tree a moment later which surprised Reika.

"Kaidou-sensei?"

Jin nodded at them with a smiled. "You are early."

Arata eyed him warily. "So are you."

"Arata." Reika nudged him and turned back to her teacher. "Kaidou-sensei, why are you so early today?"

"I just wanted see what you do in the morning since I heard from several people in town that you two would wake up early every morning and head to the park." Jin explained. "So, you wake up this early to practice your martial arts skills?"

Arata shrugged. "It's a habit we have been doing since we were eight. We haven't been doing this in a while though."

Jin nodded. "I see."

"Do you want to watch us?" Reika asked suddenly that caught Arata off guard.

"If it doesn't distract you." Jin replied.

Arata wanted to protest, but Reika gave him a look that told him that it will be alright. So, he relented. "Fine, Reika, get in position. You need to master the blind eye technique."

Reika nodded and took out a blindfold from her pocket and tied it over her eyes. "Ready."

Arata nodded and aimed a punch at Reika. Although it looks like it will hit, Reika tilted her head to the right at the last minute, which earned a smirk from Arata. He raised his leg to kick her. Like before, Reika merely tilted her body slightly to avoid it.

"Last one." Arata announced. He aimed a kick on her chest and she arched her body backwards just before Arata's feet came in contact with her chest. However, without warning, he aimed another punch at her gut which she barely managed to block. "Good. You are improving, but you will not be able to master it completely unless you have more than one person training you."

From the sidelines, Jin was watching with interest. He was quiet impressed with their skills and could tell that they had practiced hard in order to perform these moves.

"How long have you been doing this?"

"Four years." Arata answered with a shrug. "I don't see why people make a big deal out of it."

"Maybe it is because not many people can do what you do." Jin explained. "They are only impressed with what you can do."

Reika nodded as she removed the blindfold. "Sounds logical."

Arata shrugged. "I guess so."

"By the way," Jin spoke up. "I heard that there will be a new sports centre opening on the island soon. You could practise your martial arts skills and other sports there."

"A new sports centre, huh?" Reika looked interested in it. "I thought the island wanted to keep to the 1960's theme, so why would they let a sports centre be build here?"

"From what I heard from the headmaster, the management approved of it as the curriculum of the school does not give much selection of sports, so the sports centre will be there to fill up those sports." Jin explained.

Reika and Arata exchanged eager looks.

"Sounds like a good place for the students to hang out." Reika remarked.

Arata nodded in agreement. "Yes, it is."

* * *

As Arata looked at the sea on the school roof during recess, he could not help but wonder if anyone would be impress with his powers. 'They will definitely see me as a freak like everyone else.' He thought bitterly. Unconsciously, he formed a ball of fire in his palms, which heated up the fence a bit. The sound of the door opening, snapped him out of his thoughts and the ball of fire disappeared with a pop, but not before the person at the door seeing it.

'Oh no!' Arata panicked when he realised that someone saw him using his powers. He wanted to run away but before he could, the person at the door said something that stopped him.

"Don't worry, I will not tell anyone about what I saw."

Arata looked at him in surprise. Upon closer inspection, he realised who the person was. "You are Mia's twin."

The person, Hojou Muraku nodded. "Yes. I know all about Fantasy because she goes there like you."

Arata slowly nodded. Although Mia and her brother were not on the best terms, she often talked about him. And one thing that was certain about him was that he will not back out on his words. "I see."

Muraku look at him closely. "How well do you know Mia?"

Arata shrugged. "She is friends with Reika and me."

Muraku nodded. "I see."

"She often talks about you." Arata blurted out.

Muraku looked a bit surprise at that. "I didn't think that she would since we are not as close as we were before she went to Fantasy Academy."

Arata smiled gently at him. "I may not know much about your relationship with your sister, but one thing I know about siblings that is certain. No matter how close you are in the past and present, how much you don't get along with each other, absolutely nothing can break the bond between siblings whether they are blood related or not. Mia may not be as close to you as she was before, but I can tell that she cares a lot for you although she does not admit it."

Muraku was slightly surprise at Arata's words but smiled back nevertheless. "Thank you for the advice."

"Anytime," Arata said as he left the roof. "Violet Devil. I hope that we will have a chance to meet on the battlefield."

Muraku smirked as he watched Arata leave. "Sena Arata. Now I know why you like him, Mia."

* * *

'_Ok...Mia's brother found out about our powers this morning and now you are facing him!?' _Reika mentally screamed at her brother through their connection. When she decided to watch Arata and Jenock at the Wall of Gigant, she did not expect her brother to face the Violet Devil on the same day he met him!

_'Reika, please stop yelling in my brain! I cannot afford to be distracted now!' _Arata mentally yelled back at her. On the screen, Arata barely avoided Gunther Yzelphar's sword when he said that.

Reika sighed. _'Fine.'_ She stopped the connection and focused back to the screen. Thankfully, none of her teammates were there or they would be curious on why she was distracted.

* * *

Arata sighed in relief when he felt the mental line between him and Reika cut off. But he did not dwell on it as he noticed that Gunther Yzelphar raised its sword, aiming to finish off Haruki's DC Offencer. Thinking quickly, Arata had his DC Offencer to use as attack function at it.

"Hissatsu Function!"

* * *

_Attack Function_

_Hyper Energy Bomb_

* * *

However, Gunther Yzelphar merely deflected the attack function at a pillar. The pillar exploded, revealing a motor system in it.

Arata raised an eyebrow. 'That is what is inside the pillars? That's lame.'

"Arata, Hikaru assume the Escape Stance!" Haruki ordered them. Arata and Hikaru nodded and did the Escape Stance.

But Gunther Yzelphar was not done yet. Before Arata's DC Offencer fully assumed the Escape Stance, it raised it sword to hit Arata's LBX. But it was stopped when someone fired at it from afar. Arata noticed who's LBX it was and frowned. 'Gendou-san?'

* * *

Reika sighed in relief as Arata's LBX assumed the Escape Stance. 'Thank goodness. That was a close one.' She got up from her seat and left.

When she met her brother, she was surprise of his company. "Arata, when did you start to walk back with them?"

Arata shrugged while the others were a bit confused at Reika's statement.

Yuno pulled her aside and whispered to her, "Ne, Reika, what did you mean by that?"

Reika glanced over to her brother and then at Yuno. "Arata has always been a loner who prefers to be by himself. So, I'm a bit surprise that he would choose to walk back with you guys."

Yuno blinked in surprise. "He doesn't act like a loner to me."

Reika shrugged. "That's just how he is. He prefers to be alone but act differently."

"Hojou Muraku?!"

Haruki's voice made them jump in surprise.

'Hojou Muraku? Masaka?!" Reika craned her head to look at the said boy who was leaning on the wall, clearly waiting for them. 'He really is Mia's twin. They even have the same postures.'

Muraku walked over to them looking at Arata. "You're the first to ever land a blow on my unit. Sena Arata, I'll remember your name."

He walked off, leaving the group surprise, though Reika was surprise for a different reason.

Haruki was the first one to open his mouth. "Hojou Muraku..."

"...Was the Violet Devil's player?" Yuno finished for him.

Reika shook her head as she walked ahead of the group. _'I guess he acts differently around other people, right Arata?'_

_'My thoughts exactly.' _Arata answered her. _'No wonder Mia often gets annoyed at him.'_

Reika giggled silently. _'The love of siblings.'_

Arata rolled his eyes. _'Be thankful that I am not like him.'_

_ 'Oh, I will~'_ Reika ended the connection and ran ahead.


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

Up on roof of the dorms, Arata was lying down on his back, looking at the stars while tracing the constellations with one finger. 'It has been a long time since I've last done this.'

"Arata?"

Arata shot up and glanced behind him. "Yuno?"

"I noticed that you were up here for the past few nights. Do you mind if I join you?" Yuno asked as she carefully approached him, not wanting to fall down. Arata merely nodded and gestured at the place beside him.

"So, you really like stargazing." Yuno commented as she watched Arata trace another constellation.

Arata nodded. "In my previous school, we had a platform for anyone who wants to do some stargazing during the weekends. And I liked to go there with my girlfriend."

Yuno was surprise at that. "You have a girlfriend?"

"Had." Arata corrected her.

Yuno's expression saddened. "So, what happen to her?"

Arata's hands fell to his side as he sat up. "She's dead." He said quietly. "She died in an accident last year."

Yuno gasped. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He reached into his pocket and took out a white heart shape locket with a yellow gem in the middle with many multi coloured stones around it. He pressed the gem and the locket opened. "This is a photo of her that I carry around." He handed the locket to Yuno to see it.

When Yuno saw the picture she gasped. The girl in the photo had long dark hair and grey eyes. But surprisingly, she and Yuno shared some similar features like the shape of their eyes and face.

"She really looks like you." Arata remarked.

Yuno nodded wordlessly and handed the locket back. "Yeah."

Arata gazed back at the sky. "She's really sweet, just like you. But underneath that is a warrior who will fight for her friends."

"...Souka."

After a moment of awkward silence, Yuno decided to ask him a question that has been on her mind. "Arata, why are you so nice to me? I talked with Reika and she said that you are usually not as nice to everyone else like you are to me."

Arata kept silent for a moment. "I don't know. I was just nice because I wanted to...but, sometimes I wonder if it is because you look like Maddie a lot." He sighed. "I'm sorry. But I really don't know."

Yuno gently placed a hand on his arm. "I'm sure that you will find out one day. And if you do, just know that I will not be mad at you if you are nice to me just because I look like your late girlfriend."

"...Arigatou." Arata fiddled around his pocket and took out a leaf. "I used to play this song to Reika when she was sick." He placed the leaf to his mouth and blew it, creating a melodious tune.

Yuno listened to it with her mouth open. "The music...it's so beautiful." Yuno said when Arata had finished the song.

Arata smiled softly. "Thanks."

* * *

Reika smiled softly as she watched Arata play the song she grew to love. Ever since Maddie died, he refused to play the song again no matter how much she begged. Now, to listen to it again, to her, it was a miracle.

* * *

Muraku frowned as he reread the letter in his hands and furrowed his brow.

"Muraku, what's wrong?" Kageto asked him when he noticed his friend's expression.

Muraku closed his eyes. "Mia, my sister, is coming to this school next Monday."

Vanessa, Kageto and Mikhail exchanged curious glances.

"We never knew that you have a sister." Vanessa remarked.

Muraku just kept quiet and picked up his tray along with the letter.

* * *

"Arata, where are we going?" Reika asked curiously as she tugged on her skirt. She was wearing a purple long sleeve shirt, a blue skirt with very short pants underneath and a pair of calf length brown boots as today was Saturday, so all the students can wear their casual clothes and not their uniforms.

Arata on the other hand was wearing a casual red t-shirt and black jeans with red running shoes. Her held up a letter. "Someone sent me a letter telling us to visit the new sport centre building."

"Who could it be from?"

"I have an idea." Arata said mysteriously. "By the way, I heard that Mia is starting school here next Monday."

Reika grinned and jumped up and down. "Yup, she said that she wants to help us with our mission."

Arata nodded silently. "Yeah, also, Yuko-nee will be coming to the island soon."

Reika suddenly paused. "Wait, what is the name of the sports centre?"

Arata's lips turned upward into a small smile. "Kuriko's Fantasy Sports Centre."

Reika's jaws dropped. "Does this mean...?"

Arata nodded. "Yup, Yuno-nee and Atsuya-senpai are running the sports centre."

* * *

"Here we are."

Reika looked at the building in surprise. In contrast to the 1960's buildings on the island, the sports centre building was a huge white square shape building. The outside was pretty much like any ordinary building, but knowing Yuko-nee, she probably managed to get some hidden rooms for them to practice their powers secretly.

"Come on, let's go in." Arata's voice broke through her train of thoughts.

"Hai."

The inside of the building was certainly more impressive than the outside. The lobby had a fountain and several couches around the room. Pass there was the main hall which has a small bar for snacks and drinks and one can see the sky from the glass roof.

"Reika, look." Arata pointed at a mural on one of the walls. The mural shows three dragon-like beings. The one in the centre was the largest and white and black in colour. Its white wings were spread open revealing black streaks on it. Its upper body is white which fades into black at the lower body. Also, the eyes are amber in colour with a fire in it and have a horn about 3 inches long between its eyes.

The other two on each side of it were slightly smaller than but still just as beautiful as it. The one on the right has white wings and body which fades to grey at the lower parts and beautiful blue eyes. The horn on its head was gold and the spikes on its back were silver.

The one on the left had the same design as the one on the right, but its colours were purple at the top which fades to black and the horn and spikes on its back are crimson.

"The original Avianes." Reika whispered in awe.

"Glad to hear that your knowledge on the Avianes hasn't rusted yet."

Reika and Arata shared a grinned before they turned around to face the person who spoke and her companion.

"And I'm glad to see you lovebirds again." Reika said cheekily. "Mia, Atsuya."

* * *

**For those of you who have questions about the Avianes, you can PM me and ask.**


	7. Chapter 7

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

"And I'm glad to see you lovebirds again." Reika said cheekily. "Mia, Atsuya."

Mia, a short girl with long black hair like her brother with blue streaks and purple-yellow eyes, rolled her eyes and wacked Reika across the back of the head. "Is this how you greet us after not seeing us for eight months?"

"Ow~," Reika cried as she rubbed her head.

Arata rolled his eyes and did a fist bump with Atsuya. "Great to see you again, Atsuya-senpai."

Atsuya grinned. "Great to see you guys too."

"And Mia, it has been a long time." Arata said as he turned to her.

Mia smiled and shook his hand before turning to Reika with a small smirk. "This is the proper way to greet us."

Reika pouted. "I don't see why I can't greet you my way!"

"That's because your way is too blunt!"

They glared at each other in a heated silent argument. Atsuya sweatdroped and whispered to Arata. "Do you think we should break them up?"

Arata watched them for a moment and smiled. "Nah, this happens most of the time. It will turn out fine in the end."

Just as he had said that, a laugh from both Reika and Mia caught their attention.

"You certainly haven't lost your touch, Rei."

"So have you Mia."

They hugged each other and turned to the boys. "So, did we miss anything?"

"Um, no."

* * *

"Seriously though, how long have you been on the island?" Reika asked her best friend as Atsuya prepared drinks behind the bar. Arata had wandered off saying that he wanted to have a look around the building.

Mia tapped her chin. "I would say...for three days?"

"Three days and you did not even tell us?!"

Mia just shrugged like it was not a big deal. "Oh, with all that work cleaning up this place, you would tend to forget about other things."

"Like telling your brother that you are here already?" Reika asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Mia groaned and banged her head on the table. "Can we not get to that? It's bad enough that he has to be famous in school."

Reika gave her a wry smile. "Just so you know, he already found a rival in Arata."

"What?" Mia moaned. "The next thing I know, everyone would be expecting me to be as good as him."

Reika patted her shoulder. "Ma~, if that happens, show them your skills!"

"Reika, my skills in using an LBX are only second to Arata and yours" Mia deadpanned.

Reika wagged a finger. "I'm not talking about your LBX skills; I'm talking about your martial arts skills. That should shut them up for a while."

Mia had to laugh. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"So I've heard."

"Anyway, I will be going to the school later to find out which class I will be in. Hopefully I will not be in the same class as Muraku."

Reika raised an eyebrow at that but did not say anything about it.

"Hai, here you go." Atsuya came to their table with two drinks on the tray. "One ice blended strawberry milkshake," He placed the drink in front of Reika, "and one orange milkshake." He gave Mia the drink.

"Thank you Atsuya." Reika took a huge sip of her drink. "Ah~, these are so good."

Atsuya grinned. "It took me all night just to get the recipe right. Glad that you like it."

Mia silently sipped her milkshake as she flipped through the school guide book that Reika had lent to her in order for her to familiarize herself with the school.

"Mia, is it good?"

Atsuya's question made her look up from her reading and grin. "Just like always, it is the best."

Atsuya chuckled. "But, it is all thanks to you."

Reika rolled her eyes. "Please, if you're going to flirt, get a room. Oh, and I don't think that Muraku would like it if you flirt with Atsuya in front of him."

Mia huffed. "He has no right to tell me what to do. So, if he doesn't like it, then I don't care."

* * *

"We're back." Reika called as she and Arata returned to the dorms. After seeing the sports building, they decided that if they did not return back soon, they will be late for lunch.

"Ah, welcome back." Sakuya greeted them. "Lunch is in five minutes."

"Thanks." Reika stretched her muscles. "That was a very tiring walk."

"Heh, so you went for a walk."

Arata nodded. "You should go out there and get some exercise instead of staying copped up in your room the whole day."

Sakuya scratched his cheek sheepishly. "I would, but I have to finish fixing the LBX before I can do anything else."

Arata nodded in understanding. "Can I help you after lunch?"

"Sure."

* * *

"So, Arata, I meant to ask you, but where did you learn to do that overhead throw that you did that day when Rossius attacked our cargo train last week during War time?" Sakuya asked as he fixed Hikaru's DC Offencer.

Arata looked up from polishing a part. "Oh, it's nothing. Reika and I went to a martial arts school before this. I just like to input my martial art skills into my LBX skills. But...these LBXs are not like my last one. They cannot withstand it if I use them too much."

Sakuya nodded in agreement. "As a mechanic, I can tell that the move had placed a huge strain on your DC Offencer's arm. That's why you did not you it again, right?"

"Yup."

Sakuya though for a moment. "Say Arata, were did you and Reika get those necklaces?"

Arata looked down at his necklace. Like Reika's it has the Fantasy Academy embalm but his has a flame print on it instead of a bubble. "We got them from our previous school. Every student is given one with the element print of their choice. Reika and I keep ours for memory sake."

"Heh," Sakuya said in awe. "Haruki once mentioned that his cousin had one just like that."

Arata jerked up at that. "Really? Hm, maybe I should ask him who his cousin is. Maybe Reika or I might know him or her."

Sakuya sighed as he finished fixing Hikaru's LBX. "Mah, Haruki doesn't really like talking about her since she disappeared two years ago."

"Is that why he is so strict?"

Sakuya shook his head. "No, actually, he cannot help it. Thanks to an error in his plans, our old teammates' LBXs became LOST. Thanks to the Violet Devil."

Arata blinked in surprise.

"It was Haruki's first time leading the platoon, and he was so excited..." Sakuya trailed off as he remembered what happened that day. Unbeknown to him, Arata used his powers to read his mind and saw all that happened that day in his mind.

"So, that's why he is like that." Arata muttered softly.

"The Violet Devil's strength is stellar. It was pure luck that Haruki got out safely. But he still failed the mission and lost his teammates thanks to his own judgement. That is why he is like that." Sakuya paused for a moment. "I think you're both good players. But it's all over once you are LOST. We mechanics can't repair your machines if they can't be recovered."

Arata thought for a moment. "I see. I think I understand what he had gone through. Most of the time Reika and two other girls depend on me to guide them through the martial arts lessons. There was this one time though, due to the fact I misjudged something in my calculations, I accidentally injured one of the girls and she could not walk properly after that."

Sakuya looked at him in surprise. "Wow that must have been bad."

Arata nodded. "Yeah, even until now, I've never stopped feeling guilty about it because I was supposed to guide her but I ended up injuring her and destroying her dream of being a dancer."

Sakuya patted his shoulder. "Ma, it was in the past, so you should let it go. I'm sure that the girl doesn't blame you for what happened."

Arata glanced out the window. "You're right, she didn't."

* * *

Mito-sensei stiffened as a man in a business suit stood across the table. "May I help you?"

The man wordlessly placed a briefcase on the table and opened it.

Mito-sensei's eyes became wide when she saw the contents. "These are..."


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

Mia grinned as she left the office of the headmaster after knowing which class she will be in. She pulled out her CCM from her handbag and quickly dialled Reika's number.

"Guess what?"

_"You know which class you will be in and it is not class 2-1."_

"Yes! Now I won't be in the same class as Muraku." Mia squealed.

_"Alright, so which class are you in?"_

Mia glanced at the paper which told her which class she was in. "Class 2-5."

_"That's Jenock's class."_ Reika said in surprise. _"You will be with Arata."_

Mia shrugged. "That's good, I suppose. He can keep my temper in check that way."

_"You are still taking those anger management classes, aren't you?" _Reika deadpanned.

Mia rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am, as a matter of fact."

_"Glad to hear that. I'll tell Arata that you are in the same class as him. I'll see you tomorrow."_

"Bye." Mia hung up and tossed her CCM back into her handbag carelessly.

* * *

Mia hummed as she walked around the park, given her good mood after the visit to the school.

A ball rolled to her feet as some kids nearby kicked it too far.

"Sorry, can you kick it back?" One of the kids called. Mia grinned and kicked it back. The ball sailed through the air and landed directly into the kid's arms.

"Arigatou!"

Mia smiled and waved.

"You have not changed a lot at all, Mia."

Mia sighed and turned around to face her brother with a small smirk. "Hello, Muraku." She eyed him critically for a moment. "I can see that you did change a bit."

A small smile crept up Muraku's lips. "I guess so."

An awkward silence followed after that.

"How long have you been on the island?" Muraku asked, breaking the silence.

Mia thought for a moment. "Three days. I was helping to set up the new sports centre."

Muraku nodded. "I see."

"And," Mia flipped her hair. "I went to see the headmaster just now, and I am in class 2-5."

"Jenock's class." Muraku stated.

Mia nodded. Another awkward silence came.

"Well, I heard that you started a rivalry with Arata."

Muraku nodded and stared at the distance. "Ah, he is the first one to land a hit on my unit."

Mia slowly nodded. "Souka." She thought for a moment and spoke. "If you stay out of my mission, I will stay out of yours."

Muraku's gaze sharpened. "Ah."

* * *

Arata closed his eyes and tried to meditate but could not with all the racket from the students in the class.

"Ne, ne, I heard that we are having a new student in our class!" Yuno exclaimed.

"Also, I heard that she is related somehow to one of the top players of the school!" Catherin added her input.

Arata silently groaned at their blaring voices. "How can anyone be so excited for a new student is beyond my imagination." He muttered grouchily.

Sakuya sweatdropped at that. "Ma, I guess it is ok to be excited about something every once in a while."

"Say, Arata, what do you think about our new addition?" Yuno asked as she went to him.

Arata sighed. "A new student means that we get stronger. End of discussion."

Yuno pouted. "Mou, you are no fun."

The door opened and Mito-sensei stepped in. "Quiet. Today, we have a new addition to Jenock." She turned to the door. "Come in."

Much to the shock of everyone, except for Arata, a girl with long black hair with blue streaks and purple-yellow eyes wearing Jenock's uniform walked in. But what is shocking is that she looks exactly like Hojou Muraku.

"Hojou Mia. Yoroshiku." Mia bowed.

"Wait just a minute!" Catherin raised her hand. "She is related to Hojou Muraku and there could be a chance she can sneak information to him!"

Mia's eyes flared up for a moment and opened her mouth to retort. But Arata caught her eye and shook his head, indicating her to calm down. She took a deep breath and closed her mouth.

Mito-sensei watched this exchange and made up her mind. "Quiet. I have made up my mind. She will not be officially part of the first platoon, but, she will join them in their missions."

Mia closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again. "Hai."

"Also, first platoon, to the front."

Arata, Haruki, Hikaru and Sakuya got up and went to the front.

"I'm sure that your LBX are not in the best of shape." Mito-sensei began. Mia raised an eyebrow at that, wondering what had happened.

"So, in today's mission, we'll have you use these." Mito-sensei placed a briefcase on the table and opened it. Inside was four boxes of LBX. "We were issued these brand new models for use during War Time. Thus, we will have the first platoon and Mia test these new LBX."

Arata frowned as he tried to figure out what _that person_ was thinking, giving them new LBX.

"Izumo Haruki will receive Orvane, Honshihara Hikaru will get Val Sparos, Sena Arata will get Dot Phasor, and Hojou Mia will get Phantom Blaze."

There were mummers of protest at this.

"Sensei, why only the first platoon?" Rikuya demanded. "Also, why give the new student one of the new LBXs?"

"My thoughts exactly!" Catherin joined in. "They failed their last mission!"

Mia really wanted to lunge at her but Arata placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Stop it. Best not to cause a scene here." He whispered to her softly.

Mia growled but nodded.

* * *

"Great, just when I thought I could get away from Muraku and the comparisons, he indirectly created more problems for me." Mia grumbled to Arata and Reika as they ate their lunch at the roof.

Reika shrugged. "It could be worst. At least Arata was there when he was to stop you from blowing your top."

"Yeah!" Mia snapped. "I could have at least taught her a lesson or two! She better be thankful that Arata stopped me or she would be having a bloody eye or two!"

"Mia! Watch your language!" Arata scolded her.

Mia flinched but nodded. "Hai, I'm sorry."

Arata sighed. "You have to remember this. If you get angry over every single thing related to Muraku, you will definitely find it hard to fit in with Jenock. So, try to keep your temper in check. I cannot be there to stop you every time you lose it."

"I will when they stop making me angry!"

"Mia," Arata placed a hand on her shoulder. "You must remember this. It is not them who makes you angry, it is you who chooses to be angry."

"So, I should remember that I have a choice and keep my temper in check like this. I know, I know." Mia held up her hands.

Reika giggled. "Wow, Arata, you are becoming more like Master Yuriko."

Arata gave her a wry smile. "Seems like it."

"By the way, I heard from Yuno that you have new LBX." Reika spoke up.

Mia and Arata nodded and took their LBX out.

"He~. So this is Dot Phasor and Phantom Blaze." Reika took Phantom Blaze (I'll Let you imagine what it looks like) and admired it. "If I did not know better, I would say that they look like your previous LBXs."

Arata's face became solemn. "I think, Yuko-nee had a hand in giving us these LBX. Their designs and capabilities are exactly like our previous ones that allowed us to infuse our martial arts skills into it."

"Now that you mentioned it..." Mia took back her LBX and looked at it carefully. "I think you are right."

"Ma, it doesn't matter," Reika shrugged. "We can ask her when she arrives at the island."

Arata nodded. "By the way, the opening ceremony of the sports centre is this Saturday. Yuko-nee said that we can invite anyone we want."

"Are you going to invite Muraku?" Reika asked Mia curiously.

Mia sighed and nodded. "Yup, I gave him the invitation yesterday when I saw him."

"Also, Yuko-nee wants you and me to do a demonstration that day." Arata said while smirking at Mia.

Mia rolled her eyes. "What demonstration?"

"Martial arts."

Mia's lips twitched a bit. "Fine by me."


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

"I can't wait to see how well these new LBX will function during War Time." Sakuya said excitedly as the 1st platoon walked to Jenock's briefing room. Haruki and Hikaru nodded in agreement.

"Ah, they seem stronger than an average LBX, so, I believe that they will be a great asset to Jenock." Haruki remarked.

Mia did not bother to listen as she lagged behind with Arata from the group. Although Sakuya had made an effort to welcome her, Haruki was a bit cold to her and Hikaru had ignored her most of the time like her classmates. The only one in class that was friendly to her was Arata, and it was only because he was her long time friend.

"Arata, do you ever feel that you don't fit in this school just because you came from a...different school than everyone else?" She suddenly asked him.

Arata tapped his chin for a moment. "Maybe, but just a bit. Haruki and Sakuya were great in helping me and Hikaru adjust to the school, and Reika's teammates were friendly to her from the start from what she told me." Noticing Mia's slightly disappointed look because of the cold reception she got when she first joined, he patted her shoulder. "Cheer up. Give them some time, once they see that you are nothing like Muraku, they might like you. And who knows? Maybe they will be grateful for having a strong teammate on their side."

Mia gave him a slight wry smile. "I guess, but still..."

Arata held up his hand to stop her. "Just trust yourself and have confidence in your abilities. That is all you need to gain their respect."

"...If you say so, teacher."

The corners of Arata's lips curved up slightly. "Teacher, huh? I haven't heard that nickname in a long time."

* * *

"Takeru, what's so important that you want to tell me?" Reika asked the mechanic after her platoon was given free time...again. "I want to see Arata and Mia's new LBX in action and they are probably starting now."

"Gomen." Takeru apologised. "I just wanted your opinion. I'm going to make a new LBX that I had on my mind for a while and I kind of need your reference on weapons."

Reika raised an eyebrow. "And what does my reference on weapons have to do with the new LBX?"

"Well," Takeru scratched the back of his head. "I meant to make it for you to use." If he looked closely at Reika, he would have seen her eyes light up like a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.

She pretended to think for a moment. "Seeing Arata and Mia in action can wait. I can spare some time to give you some reference!"

Takeru sweat dropped a little at her change of mood. "Ok, do you think you can spare twenty minutes?"

Reika nodded vigorously and dragged him by the arm. "What are we waiting for, c'mon."

* * *

When the 4th platoon lured the guarding LBX away from the point, Mia smirked as her LBX dropped down from the craft carrier. Those people were dumber that she would give them credit for. 'Don't tell me that Muraku have to work with these people.'

"Let's see what these LBX can do." Arata mused as Dot Phasor dashed forward to attack.

Hikaru tensed and prepared to rush ahead of Dot Phasor but Haruki had different ideas. "Hikaru, Mia, back Arata up."

"Hai." Mia had Phantom Blaze bring out its katana and she ran to intercept the enemy LBX while Hikaru hesitated until he remembered what Haruki had told him.

_"You can't win on your own."_

After a moment of hesitation, he relented. "Roger."

As the Gunthers and Gleriors attempted to fend off Jenock by shooting at them with their guns and launchers, Dot Phasor merely dodged all of them and jumped over the flag. As he landed, the capturing process begun and a countdown sign appeared above the flag. Phantom Blaze followed him not far behind and together, they slashed at two of the guarding Gleriors with their sword and katana respectively, making them break over.

'Not only their designs and compatibilities are just like our old ones, their strength is significantly stronger.' Mia silently thought.

As the Rossius LBX shifted their attacks to Dot Phasor and Phantom Blaze, Val Sparos leaped through the air and took out a Gunther with its daggers. Haruki on the other hand, took out a Glerrior with Orvane's hammer. The rest of the guarding LBX took a few steps back, obviously not wanting to mess with them, only to meet the barge of attacks from the 2nd platoon and the 3rd platoon.

"2nd platoon, get rid of the remaining enemies. Began capturing procedures." Gendou instructed.

Soon enough, the remaining two LBXs break over. The 2nd platoon entered the flag area while the 3rd platoon remained outside.

"The 2nd platoon will continue to stand by." Gendou informed.

"The 3rd platoon will remain here as defence."

"Roger. 1st platoon and Mia, attack the remaining Rossius LBX." Haruki instructed Hikaru, Arata and Mia.

"Roger!"

The four LBX went forward to intercept the remaining LBX that returned from chasing the 4th platoon.

"Enemies spotted ahead." Hikaru informed them.

"Like we cannot see them." Mia said with her voice laced with heavy sarcasm.

"Move to the front and break them up." Haruki said, ignoring Mia. "I'll assist you."

"Roger." Val Sparos dashed forward while Orvane placed its hammer back into its slot on its back. As the enemy LBX jumped down to attack them, Orvane changed forms into O-cannon mode. Using its cannon, it managed to defeat several LBX before Val Sparos moved in and slashed at one of them several times.

While Val Sparos and Orvane took out some of the enemy LBXs, Phantom Blaze slashed her katana at any nearby LBXs within her sight. Her movements were so graceful that it almost looked like she was dancing.

Arata grinned as he watched her for a moment before moving in himself. 'It seems that Mia has not lost her touch at all. Now it's my turn.'

Twirling his sword so that it is facing the opposite direction, Dot Phasor brought his arm up and slashed at a nearby Glerior and kicked another Gunther, sending it flying to Phantom Blaze who stabbed it with her katana and jumped away as it break over.

"Well done." Arata praised her.

_"The point has been captured. Ownership of East End Bridge will be transferred from Rossius to Jenock. Cease fighting immediately. All units from Rossius, please evacuate from East End Bridge."_

* * *

'Jenock's new warriors...our new powers.' Mito-sensei silently thought. "Now we can finally..." She was cut off by the ringing of her CCM. Sighing, she took it out and answered the call. After listening to the person on the line for a while, her eyes became wide. "Yuko?!"


	10. Chapter 10

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

****"Yuko!?"

_"Yes it's me." _The person on the line deadpanned. Mito-sensei could almost see her roll her eyes which made her smile a bit. _"Just calling to see if we can meet up again for old time sake."_

Mito-sensei raised an eyebrow. "Now? We haven't been in contact for years. Why do you sudden want to see me?"

Yuko sighed. _"I'm sorry for not contacting for so long. My father forbade me to contact my old friends after we moved away for personal reasons."_

"...It has something to do with your powers, does it?"

_"You got me. Anyway, just so that you know, two of my old students from Fantasy are in you class and they are like me. They have powers."_

Mito-sensei's eyes became wide. "What did you say!?"

_"If you want to know who it is, why don't you come to the sports centre tomorrow when you are done with your class?" _Yuko suggested. _"Oh, and if you figure out who it is before that, please don't say anything to them. Please."_

Mito-sensei thought for a moment and sighed. "Fine. I'll come over at five."

_"Thank you so much!"_ Yuko squealed over the phone and hung up. For one minute, Mito-sensei almost regretted her decision, but, she trust that her old friend will explain everything.

'Two of my students have powers like Yuko...just who could they be...Masaka!?'

* * *

"Those LBXs are awesome!" Reika exclaimed as she pounded Mia as she and Arata walked out of the main entrance.

Mia nodded her head enthusiastically like Reika. "I know. There were really great in their performance! And, Phantom Blaze's weapon is so cool!"

They continued their conversation at five hundred miles an hour that Arata gave up on catching up on them and let them talk all they want. All the same, he could not keep the amused smile off his face. There are times that this scene reminded him of the days where they would complement and support each other on their wins or loses. Laughing away all their worries and hanging out at their favourite juice bar after school and martial art practise.

A slight movement caught his eyes as he stopped in front of an alley. Not looking at the person leaning on the wall of the alley, he smirked. "Aren't you going to talk to your sister, Muraku?"

Muraku glanced at the girls who were already a distance away and shook his head. "She seems to settling down fine. I do not want to bother her now."

Arata sighed. "Don't tell her that I told you this, but, I think it would take a while before she completely settles down. Most of the class do not want to accept her because she is your sister."

"Souka." Muraku said quietly and straightened up. "Please look out for her."

Arata nodded. "Will do."

Muraku watched Mia and Reika walk off for a moment before he walked down the alley. Arata watched walk off for a moment before he smiled. 'Mia, try looking at your brother's point of view. He really cares for you and I believe that he doesn't want you to be suffering because of him.'

* * *

"Tome-san, we have a new student!" Reika called as she and Mia entered the dorms. Arata had excused himself earlier with the excuse of needing to buy some stationery. But the girls knew that he made up the excuse to see Atsuya about Yuko-san.

"Ah, so it seems. Reika-chan, is it ok with you that she shares a room with you? Currently all the remaining girl's dorms are taken up and you are the only one without a roommate." Tome-san asked.

Reika nodded. "Sure. We shared a dorm together in our last school. Come on, Mia!" She grabbed Mia's arm and dragged her to their room.

"Oh, Reika-chan, where is your brother?" Tome-san enquired.

"Shopping!" Reika called back before she and Mia disappeared upstairs.

* * *

Later, when the girls came down for dinner Arata was waiting for them downstairs.

"Took the both of you long enough. I was seriously considering asking Yuno to fetch the both of you down." Arata remarked.

Reika rolled her eyes as she wrapped her arm around Mia's. "Really, Arata. There's no need to bother her. We were just catching up for old time's sake."

Mia sighed. "Can we go now? I'm hungry."

The siblings nodded and went to the dining room.

"Oh, and Mia, do you want to sit with me or with Reika?" Arata suddenly asked.

Mia frowned. "I don't know..."

"If you sit with Arata, you will also have his platoon mates at his seat." Reika informed her. "On the other hand, I'm sitting with those in my platoon. I'm sure that they would welcome you."

Mia shifted her gaze to Arata then to Reika. Finally, she took a deep breath and gave Arata an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Arata. But I want to sit with Reika."

Much to her relief, Arata nodded in understanding. "I figured you would say that. Don't worry, I'll have a talk with Haruki and Hikaru about their cold behaviour to you."

Mia nodded. "Thanks."

Arata shrugged. "That's what friends are for."

* * *

"Where's Mia?" Sakuya asked Arata when he noticed that their newest member was not with him.

Arata gestured to Reika's table. "She's with Reika."

Haruki frowned a bit but did not push it. Hikaru looked like he could not care less.

"Oh, and Haruki, Hikaru. I would like to have a word with you after dinner." Arata added. Haruki and Hikaru exchanged curious looks but nodded.

Over at Reika's table, Mia seem to get along well with Reika's teammates.

"Heh, so you were in the same school as Reika and her brother before." Suzune marvelled. So far, none of them had talked about her brother, which made Mia relief so she opened up a bit.

Mia nodded. "Yeah, I studied there since I was seven but dropped out last year."

"Um, I don't mean to pry, but why did you drop out?" Takeru asked. "But you don't have to say it if you don't want to." He rushed to add.

Mia shrugged. "I would rather not talk about it. It's not one of the best memories."

"You don't have to tell us now." Inui assured her.

Reika watched them interact and smiled. Mia was a lot more relaxed now that she was around people who did not care about to whom she was related. Rather, they were more interested in her herself. 'Probably because Harness is more focus on Arabista than on Rossius. Even so, they would have probably accepted her.'

Arata also saw Mia's more relaxed and happier look and smiled to himself. Letting Mia to go with Reika was the right decision.

* * *

"So, what do you want to talk with us about?" Haruki asked as Arata lead him and Hikaru outside to a more quiet part of the dorms.

"Don't you think that you are a bit too harsh to Mia?" Arata asked as he observed a plant beside him, not bothering to look at them. When he did not get an answer, he continued. "Haruki, I know that you dislike her brother because of what he had done to your old teammates, but it doesn't give you an excuse to be cold to her. Don't hold her responsible for what happened in the past just because she is Muraku's sister."

Haruki kept quiet. There was a lot of logic in Arata's words. He had been cold to her because of what Muraku had done to his old teammates. And it was unfair to Mia. This had nothing to do with her as she had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Muraku had made his old teammates LOST.

"Also, Hikaru, try to accept her as a teammate. Although she is not officially part of the first platoon, she is still part of Jenock. Jenock is like a team and a stool. If the team cannot work together well, it will be like losing a leg for a stool. The team and the stool will fall easily. Can you at least make some effort to welcome her?"

Hikaru sighed. "You're not letting us go until we agree, aren't you?"

Arata shrugged. "I just wanted to help her. You can go now if you want. And I'm sorry if I took up your time with my words but I hope that you would think about them." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked back to the building. "Give her a chance. Once you get to know her, you'll be thankful that Jenock has a strong addition."

Without looking back, he could tell that his words had got to them and he had faith that they would be a bit nicer to Mia.

* * *

**I'm so sorry if you think that Haruki is a bit occ. But, I felt that he might feel that way to Mia because of her brother making his teammates LOST. As for Hikaru, it seems to fit his character. Once again, I'm sorry if it looks like I'm bashing Jenock for shunning Mia...then again, that's what they might do.**


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

"Hah~, War Time is over." Suzune stretched like a cat. "I almost thought that it would never end."

Reika nodded in agreement and rolled her shoulders a bit. "Yup. It's rather tensed today; I think my shoulder muscles are sore from having to keep my LBX steady for so long."

For today's mission, the first platoon was told to raid one of Arabista's forts and the flag was on a tiny island in the fort. The problem? There was only a tiny plank that could bring them to the island. Therefore, they had a hard time trying to keep their LBX steady on the plank and avoid Arabista's attacks. However they were forced to retreat before they could finish the mission.

"We need to think of a way to get across without falling off the plank and avoid Arabista's attacks at the same time." Inui told them.

"You know, it is times like this I prefer to have a strider frame LBX instead." Reika remarked. "It would have been much easier."

"How so?" Takeru asked curiously.

Reika shrugged. "I'm much more use to using strider frames, and let's just say that I have an idea of getting across if I had more flexibility."

"I see." Takeru thought. "Then, I'll try and get your LBX done by tomorrow. Hopefully we can have you to use it by the next mission."

Reika nodded thoughtfully. "That would be good." She glanced at her watch and gasped. "Oh man! I'll suppose to meet up with Mia and Arata in five minutes!" She quickly stuffed all her things into her bag and ran out of the classroom in a rush. "I'll see you guys later!"

"...What was that all about?"Suzune wondered.

"Sa. Let's go back now." Inui suggested. The others nodded in agreement and headed back to the dorms.

* * *

"So, how long do you think Reika will be late?" Mia grunted as she aimed a kick at Arata's head, which he stopped by grabbing her leg and twisting it. Mia's body immediately reacted and twisted her whole body and yanked her leg away, landing nearby.

Arata shrugged as he punched Mia in the gut. "Don't know."

"Ow!" Mia cried as Arata's fits came in contact with her gut. "Have you been having coffee or something? You seem more energetic these days."

Arata blinked. "Am I?"

"Sorry I'm late!" Reika cried as she ran over to them only to dodge Arata's kick at her. "Lay off the coffee, Arata!"

Arata rubbed the back off his head sheepishly. "Gomen. Maybe I should ask for tea instead for breakfast."

Mia and Reika nodded their heads simultaneously. "Yup, you should."

"By the way, why are we still practising here when we can practise at the sports centre?" Mia wondered.

"Yuko-nee is having her friend over there today, so we can only start practising there tomorrow." Reika explained.

"Well," Arata relaxed a bit and sat down by a tree. "I guess we can take a break for a moment, but...Reika, 10 laps around the park for being late."

Reika's eyes became wide like saucers. "But...but...fine." She took off running, leaving Arata and Mia giggling a bit.

"That was a bit harsh." Mia chided softly.

Arata shrugged. "If I didn't, she would probably be late all the time for practise."

Mia nodded in agreement. "True, very true."

* * *

Mito-sensei paused in her tracks when she saw the sports centre. Her eyes narrowed at the reason why she was her. As she tried to push the front door, she realised that it was locked.

"Oh, Reina-nee-san."

Mito-sensei glanced to her right and recognised Atsuya. "Atsuya-kun."

"The front doors will be locked until the opening ceremony, so we have to use the back door." Atsuya explained about the locked door. "Come on, the back door is just around to corner." Atsuya gestured to Mito-sensei to follow him. Mito-sensei stared at him for a moment and followed him.

* * *

Stepping into the main hall, Mito-sensei understood why the doors were locked. Yuko was standing in the middle of the room with her hands stretched out and glowing light brown. Over at the other side of the room, several training mats weights were being moved by some unknown force and the mats were set up on one side of the room while the weights were shifted to one corner.

"Yuko?" Mito-sensei carefully asked.

Yuko's hand stopped glowing as her head perked up and turned on her heels. "Reina!" She went to her old friend and shook her hand. "It has been too long."

Mito-sensei nodded. "Ah."

Yuko smiled gently and turned to Atsuya who was manning the bar. "Atsuya, can you make some drinks for us?"

Atsuya gave thumbs up. "Sure thing. They will be done in a sec."

"Arata and Mia are the ones who have powers like you, right?" Mito-sensei asked, getting straight to the point as she sat down on at a table. "And if I'm not mistaken, Reika too."

Yuko nodded. "Ah."

"And you are telling me this because..."

Yuko shrugged. "I figured that I might as well tell you before you find out yourself."

Mito-sensei nodded slightly. "Souka."

There was silence until Atsuya came over with their drinks. "Hai, here is mango lassie for you nee-san, and for Reina-nee-san, tea."

"Thank you."

"Go clean up the gymnasium room. There is a lot of dust there." Yuko told her brother.

Atsuya made a mock salute. "Hai." He rushed off, knowing that it was his sister's way of getting rid of him.

"...So, why did Arata, Reika and Mia enrolled here?" Mito-sensei asked quietly.

Yuko froze for a second and for a moment, Mito-sensei saw sadness in her eyes before it disappeared.

"About two years ago, an ancient artefact that was entrusted to my family was stolen and somehow ended up on this island. Last year, we sent a student of my here to find it. Unfortunately, she died before she could retrieve it." Yuko quietly explained.

Mito-sensei frowned. "Masaka... the accident at that time...the victim was your student?"

Yuko nodded. "Yeah. She was also a good friend of Arata, Reika and Mia. Mia was upset when Maddie died, so she left the academy in hopes of finding out what happened from home while Arata and Reika remained at the school. We remained quiet for a year or so to avoid any one connecting Maddie's death to the academy."

"...I see. Then, Arata and Reika enrolled here to find the artefact, right?"

Yuko nodded. "At the same time, I heard that your father disappeared on the island, so, I decided to come here and help you find him while looking for the artefact."

Mito-sensei's eyes moisten for a moment before she blinked back her tears. "Thank you."

Yuko smiled gently at her. "That's what friends are for."

"So," Mito-sensei quickly rubbed her eyes a bit. "What is the artefact that was stolen?"

Yuko's face immediately became serious. "The gem of wishes."


	12. Chapter 12

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

Mia grinned as she walked around the park after practise that afternoon. Given the cool evening air and the soft breeze in the air, she could not resist not walking around a bit before going back to the dorms.

"Oh, it's that onee-san from back then!" A kid who was playing with his friends nearby immediately recognised her. She also recognised the boy as the one whom she returned the ball to a few days earlier. "Do you want to play with us?"

Grinning, she waved at them. "Gomen, but maybe another time."

The boys pulled on sad faces as she said that. "Eh~?"

Mia really could not resist their cuteness at this point. "How about this, next time I come around, I promise I will play with you guys."

This seems to lighten them up. "Hai!"

Smiling, Mia continued her walk until she reached the cliff side. She sat down and pulled her knees close to her body to watch the sunset.

"I figured that you would be here."

Mia inwardly groaned. "What do you want, Muraku?"

"I just want to talk to you." He calmly replied. He walked over and sat down beside Mia. "I saw your LBX during War Time. You are good."

Mia scoffed and tossed her head. "So what about it? Everyone would definitely say that you are better than me."

Muraku raised an eyebrow. "Do you really believe that?"

"I have heard the same sentences too many times." She started to mimic other people's voices. "'Muraku is good in this.'; 'Muraku is a whole lot better than you are in LBX battling.'. And their favourite, 'Why can't you be as good as Muraku?'"

Muraku eyed her carefully. "Do you actually believe them?"

"Sometimes." Mia shrugged.

"But then, did you have faith in your skills today when you fought?" Muraku suddenly asked.

Mia thought for a moment and slowly nodded. Muraku gave her one of his rare smiles. "If that's the case, I believe that you would be fine here. You don't have to be afraid of the comparisons or criticisms. Just have faith in your skills and do your best."

Mia raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Why are you giving me advice? I thought we are supposed to be enemies."

"I'm giving you advice as a brother." Muraku said shortly and got up. "Don't stay out too long."

"I don't plan to." Mia answered curtly.

* * *

"So, Reika, are you sure that you can use this weapon?" Takeru asked Reika with a blueprint in his hands.

Reika looked at it for a moment and nodded. "Yup. Don't worry, I used it before with my old LBX. I can handle it." She patted Takeru on the shoulder. "Thanks for making this LBX for me."

Takeru smiled and shifted his hat a bit. "My pleasure. I haven't had a project in a while. So making this LBX can take some free time off my hands."

"Glad to hear that." Reika stiffed a yawn. "I think I'm going to turn in early. Good night."

"Good night."

"Ne, Takeru, what weapon were you showing Reika?" Suzune asked curiously as she came up to him. Takeru showed her the blueprints and Suzune gasped. "She wants to use theses?! They are practically hard to master!"

Takeru shrugged and took back the blueprints. "She said that she used them before, so I think it should be fine."

On the blueprints was a drawing of a pair of tessens.

* * *

"Yosh. Reika, it's done!" Takeru showed her the blue strider-frame LBX with white accents. Its head had two spikes and green eyes while the rest of its body looks a bit like Siren. "This is Aquarius Sirena."

Reika took it and grinned. "Thank you Takeru."

"You can use it in today's mission. From what I heard, we are going to retry and capture the point we failed to yesterday." Inui informed her.

"Ah."

* * *

"Looks like we don't have any missions today." Mia remarked to Arata as they walked down the corridors to the viewing rooms. "That means we can see if Reika gets her new LBX or not."

Arata smirked and nodded. "I can't wait to see the faces of Arabista when she shows them her moves."

Mia nodded in agreement. "Yup. Her jazz kung-fu is hard to beat."

Arata stopped in front of one of the viewing rooms. "We're here."

* * *

"Today's mission is to retry and capture Baracuda Fort from Arabista." Inui informed Reika and Suzune as the craft carrier flew to their destination. "Reika, would you like to have the honours of taking the flag?"

Reika smirked and cracked her knuckles. "I thought you would never ask."

"We are at the drop off point." Takeru informed them.

"Decend!" Inui ordered.

The LBX dropped down and almost immediately, Arabista's LBX started retaliating by shooting and rushing at them. Reika's smirk grew wider as Sirena kicked a Jirant straight at its head and used her tessens to slash at it, causing it to break over.

"I love these tessens already!"

"Reika, head to the flag, we'll distract them." Inui told her.

"Roger!" Sirena ran at an amazing speed to the plank and stopped. "Now it's time to see if Sirena can pull it off." Sirena jumped onto the plank and did a few flips without losing its balance.

Suddenly, a Vernal jumped on to the plank and tried to shoot at her. But much to everyone's surprise, Sirena tapped its heels and started moving like it was half dancing and half fighting, giving its opponent a hard time trying to hit or dodge its attacks.

* * *

Mia stiffed a giggle as she watched Sirena attack by elbowing her opponent as thought she was dancing to her favourite song. "They cannot keep up with her Jazz Kung Fu."

Arata nodded in agreement. "That's for sure. Even I cannot keep up with it."

"Arabista is toast."

* * *

Back with Reika, she was having the time of her life as she continued to input her dancing skills into her fighting skills.

'Ok, now with a little kick,' Sirena slid her right leg on the plank and kicked away a Vernal. 'And a little twist,' this time, Sirena twisted her body backwards and slashed a Jirant right on the chest with her tessens. 'Add them together, you get a clear path.' Indeed, the plank was clear of the enemy LBX and Sirena can proceed to the flag without any interruptions.

"Good job Reika." Inui praised her. "We are done with the enemy LBX here. Take the flag!"

"Roger!" With one last flip, Sirena landed in the flag area and in no time, Baracuda Fort was theirs.

* * *

As soon as Reika stepped out of her control pod, she was assaulted with questions of her teammates.

"Where did you learn how to fight like that?!"

"It was like you were dancing and fighting at the same time!"

"That's enough!" Reika yelled to stop them from overwhelming her. "I learned to fight like that by using my dance moves in my fighting skills. And we should go back to the briefing rooms now."

Everyone nodded in agreement and walked back. Reika lingered behind to use her telepathy to talk to Arata and Mia.

'_Did you see that?! Aquarius Sirena is so cool!'_

_ 'Yes, we saw it.' _Arata answered. '_I have to admit, you improved a lot since the last time you used your Jazz Kung Fu.'_

_ 'And you did well considering you were using a new LBX.' _Mia added.

_'Can we have a new LBX battle soon then?'_ Reika asked eagerly.

'_Depends if you could afford to be on time for practice.' _Arata mentally chuckled.

_'ARATA!'_


	13. Chapter 13

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

As the days passed, Jenock was clearly getting stronger with their capture of Black Wind Canyon and Eldar City. Harness on the other hand was gaining more territory thanks to Reika's skills and Takeru's inventions.

"It is a good thing that you joined Harness when you did." Suzune remarked to Reika that Friday after school. The both of them were hanging out in Reika's room as Suzune's roommate had taken up the room with her friends and Mia had gone to visit Atsuya.

"Why so?" Reika asked lazily from her bed.

Suzune swung her legs as she sat on the chair. "To be honest, before Kaidou-sensei became our sub-commander, Harness was doing badly. Almost every day, we would lose to Arabista and many of Harness' student's were transferred to different classes. Even my old friends were transferred and the next thing I knew, they refused to have anything to do with me because I am in a different virtual country."

Reika scoffed. "If they did that, then don't bother about them! People like them are not true friends from the start. Stick to those who are willing to stick by your side no matter where or who they are!"

Suzune was slightly surprise at this but slowly nodded. "You're right! If they are going to look down on me just because we are in different virtual countries, they are not worth worrying about!"

Reika nodded with a smile. "Exactly! Just show them who's boss and they will regret messing with you."

Suzune pumped her fist in the air. "I got to improve so that I can show them that just because I am in Harness, it doesn't mean that I am weak and they can snub me."

Reika nodded and suddenly remembered something. "Oh yeah, tomorrow Mia, Arata and I are suppose to help organise the opening ceremony of the Kuriko Fantasy Sports Centre. Do you want to come to the ceremony?"

Suzune's face lighted up. "You bet. I'll get Inui and Takeru to come too."

"Brilliant!" Reika clapped her hands. She dug into her bag and pulled out an envelope. "Inside are all the details of the ceremony."

Suzune took the envelope and smiled. "We'll be there. Bye." She waved and left the room just as Mia came back. "Reika, I'm back."

Reika waved at her. "Welcome back. Done making out with Atsuya?"

Mia stormed over and wacked Reika across her head. "What I do with Atsuya is not what you think!"

"Ow!" Reika rubbed her head. "Then what were you doing?"

"I was only helping him set up the decorations for the opening ceremony." Mia huffed.

Reika rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. But just don't start making out with Atsuya in front of everyone."

"Reika, I am seriously considering to chop off your head if you continue." Mia warned.

Reika gave a nervous chuckle and pretended to zip her lips.

* * *

The next morning, Arata's alarm watch went off at its usual time. Even though it was a Saturday and they did not need to wake up that early, he figured that they should wake up early to help with the last minute preparations.

As soon as he got dress, he quietly exited the building. An evil smirk formed on his lips as he thought of a way to wake Mia and Reika up.

_'Mia! Reika! WAKE UP!' _Arata mentally yelled into Mia and Reika's minds.

* * *

Inside Mia and Reika's room, the two girls were soundly asleep, unaware of Arata's sneaky plan to wake them up.

'_Mia! Reika! WAKE UP!'_

As a result, Reika fell off her bed, tangled up in her blankets while Mia shot up panting.

_'Arata, what was that for?!' _Reika mentally screamed back.

_'Just a wakeup call.'_ Arata casually answered. _'It's six o'clock and we have to be there at 7.'_

_'Give us a moment.'_ Reika grumbled. Even though they had an hour to get ready and could have gotten up half an hour later, but it was typical of Arata to wake them up earlier.

"Mia, we have to get ready now or Arata would yell in our heads again." Reika informed her roommate when she noticed that Mia had not bothered to make a move to get ready. Instead, there was a distant look in her eyes like she was daydreaming about something.

"Oh! Right." Mia quickly grabbed her casual clothes from the wardrobe and went out to the bathroom. Reika frowned. It was not like Mia to daydream like that.

* * *

Arata tapped his foot on the pavement as he waited for Mia and Reika to come out. Tome-san had been slightly surprised when she saw that he was up this early and even more when he informed her that he, Mia and Reika would not be around for breakfast. Nevertheless, she gave them permission to skip breakfast with the other students.

"Arata, if you ever yell into our minds again, I will see that you will never see your fire staff again." Reika threatened as she and Mia walked over to him.

Arata only grinned. "Now you know how bad it is when you scream into my mind."

Reika pouted. "Mou, it was really bad in the way you did it. Right, Mia...Mia?" She looked at her friend questioningly when Mia did not answer and saw that she was in a daze again. "Mia?"

Mia snapped out of her daze and shook her head. "Ah...gomen."

"Mia, are you alright?" Arata asked her worriedly and looked at her carefully.

Mia nodded. "Yeah, I'm just a bit tired as I did not sleep well last night."

Reika raised an eyebrow. "That's rare. You usually sleep like a log."

Mia sighed. "I know. But for some reason, something was nagging at me the whole night."

"Maybe you should sit out of the demonstration today and let Reika take your place." Arata suggested but Mia would have none of it.

She shook her head firmly. "If you think I'm going to sit out on this just because I'm a little tired, you're wrong!"

Reika grinned. "Here's the Mia that we know."

Arata sighed. "Fine, but if you feel that you cannot handle it, tell us immediately. We cannot afford to have you sick just because you pushed yourself too hard."

"Yes mom." Mia said sarcastically.

They continued to walk to the sports centre but Mia could not shake the sinking feeling that kept on nagging her. Also, ever since she came to the island, she has been getting vision like images of what would happen soon. But it usually happens only at night and once a day; however she had received two visions already and was a bit scared of them.

'What in the world is happening to me?' Mia worriedly wondered as she lagged behind. 'I've never received these visions before...What had triggered them?'


	14. Chapter 14

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

"Muraku, remind me again why you wanted to attend the opening ceremony of the sports centre." Vanessa sighed as she, Mikhail and Kageto followed Muraku to the sports centre at his request to accompany him.

Muraku flicked his eyes at Vanessa and back to the road. "I was invited."

"By whom?" Kageto asked curiously.

"Mia." Muraku answered shortly, making them jerk up.

"Your twin sister?" Mikhail asked incredulously. Of course, Muraku had mentioned her once or twice and the fact that she was one of the reasons Jenock have been getting stronger of late made them have the impression that she was the cold and quiet type like Muraku.

How wrong they were when they met her a few days ago. She was very hot headed and was a bit hostile to Vanessa when she unintentionally hurt her by comparing Mia to Muraku. Not to mention, there were times where Mia and Muraku would lapse into an awkward silence, indicating that they were not as close as Muraku's teammates originally thought.

Muraku nodded. "But you don't have to follow me actually. I asked you to come because I thought that you might be interested."

Vanessa shrugged at that. "It's not that we mind coming with you. It's just that we are surprise because Mia doesn't strike us as the type of person that could get along with others including you."

Muraku made no comment on that but deep in his heart; he knew that Vanessa was right. There were only a few people whom Mia would willingly open up to and he was sure that he was not one of them. Although there were times they could talk civilly without any arguments and awkward silences, it could not mend their relationship back to before Mia discovered her powers and was shipped off to Fantasy.

* * *

Inside the main hall of the sports centre, Mia and Erika were done with the last of the preparations while Atsuya was at the bar preparing his equipment for drink making. Meanwhile, Arata had set up the necessary equipment for the martial arts demonstration for later.

"OK, is everything done here?" Yuko asked when she came out from the back.

Arata nodded. "Ah. It looks like everything is set up here."

Yuko nodded. "Good, I need you and Mia to get ready for your demonstration soon."

"Hai!" Arata and Mia exchanged competitive smirks and went to the locker rooms to change.

Reika shook her head. "Those two are the most competitive people I ever seen."

Atsuya nodded in agreement. "Yeah. But it's only natural since they are the strongest fighters in your batch."

Reika sighed and glanced at the clock. "I have to check on a few things first. Take care of the bar."

"Ah." Atsuya went back to taking care of his post while Reika wandered off to the upper floors.

* * *

Rossius' sixth platoon stopped in front of the starch white building.

"So, this is the place?" Vanessa asked as she looked over Muraku's shoulder to see the invitation that Mia gave him in his hand.

Muraku nodded and pushed the doors open. Vanessa looked at the building again. "It might as well be the only modern building on this island."

Mikhail nodded in agreement. "Looks like it."

"Vanessa, Mikhail, come on." Kageto called them as he entered the building.

"Coming!" Vanessa called as she grabbed Mikhail's hand and pulled him along.

Inside the building, they saw that Reika was already at the bar with a boy that they did not recognised. When Reika saw them, she smiled warmly and waved at them to the seats nearby. Muraku nodded and gestured to his teammates to follow him. As he was looking around, he spotted the mural of the Original Avianes. Curiously, he walked over to have a closer look at it.

"Muraku?" Mikhail called after him.

Muraku merely waved at them. "I want to have a look at something first. Go and sit down first."

"Hai." They duly chorused and went to sit down at where Reika had indicated them to. Muraku glanced at them and back at the mural. He was sure that he had seen it somewhere before.

"This is the same mural that was on the academy's walls back then." Mia explained as she walked up to him, sensing what he was thinking. "You might have seen it when you and mom came over to visit back then."

Muraku looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. "What are you wearing?"

Mia looked down at her clothes. She was wearing a white tank top and grey training pants. Not to mention she was barefooted. She looked back at Muraku and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with it? I have a demonstration to do later."

Muraku shook his head. "Nothing, I was not expecting you to wear something like that."

Mia shrugged. "Get use to it then."

Muraku glanced at her, wondering what she meant by that. A loud yelp and the sound of glassware breaking broke through his thoughts. He and Mia glanced at the bar where the commotion came from. Atsuya was splattered head to toe with the smoothie he was making.

Mia covered her mouth to hide her laughter. "Atsuya, what happened to you?!"

Vanessa gasped and laughed a bit while Mikhail and Kageto tried to contain their laughter. Reika, who was taking down their orders, burst out laughing loudly. "I can't believe you forgot about the cover."

"What happened?!" Arata asked as he ran into the main hall wearing a red jacket, orange shirt and brown pants. Spotting Atsuya, his lips twitched but managed to hold down his laughter. "Yuko-nee is going to be mad at the mess you made. Not to mention, you broke a glass."

Atsuya groaned. "I'm going to get changed. Tell nee-san that I'll be back in a few minutes."

Muraku raised an eyebrow at Mia. "Does this happen all the time?"

Mia nodded cheerfully. "Yup."

Yuko walked in with Mito-sensei, Jin, and the headmaster and raised an eyebrow. "Can someone tell me why the bar is in a mess?"

Reika and Mia instantly straightened up. Arata stepped forward to explain. "Atsuya forgot to cover the blender again."

Yuko nodded as though it was the only explanation she needs. Turning to Mia she gestured at the mess. "Tell Atsuya to clean it up as soon as he gets back. The ceremony will start in an hour."

"Hai." Mia replied and went to another room.

"Ah, it's nice to see that the students can have this kind of atmosphere here, Kuriko-san." The headmaster praised. "Am I to assume that the rule of no discrimination of race, nationality, and country is applied here?"

Yuko smiled and nodded. "Yes. I may be able to overlooks some of the rules but this is one of the rules I wish to take seriously with no exceptions." Their voices faded away as they went to the upper floors.

Vanessa gave Reika a curious look. "What are they talking about?"

Reika shrugged. "I may or may not have an idea what they are talking about, but there is no guaranty that you would like it."

They exchanged glances but did not push the matter. Reika looked back at the bar and grinned. "Looks like Atsuya's back. I'll give him your orders and be back with them in ten minutes." Reika walked to the bar to give their orders as Muraku rejoined them.

"You know, if Reika was not in Harness, I would have liked her." Vanessa commented offhandedly, earning disbelieving stares from Mikhail and Kageto.

"...What?"

Mikhail quickly shook his head. "Nothing. Right, Kageto?"

Kageto followed his lead and shook his head. "Yeah, nothing at all."

Vanessa looked at them suspiciously but shrugged. "Ok then."

Muraku watched them with amusement in his eyes. "It is times like this I am glad that I have friends like all of you with me."

"Oi," Vanessa folded her hands. "What about the other times?"

Muraku smiled and closed his eyes. "You guys are like my siblings."

"Vanessa, what did you think Muraku was going to say?" Kageto teased her.

Vanessa blushed and held up her hands. "It's not what you think."

Mikhail smiled. "Glad to hear that."

They laughed as Vanessa huffed. Not far from them, Mia watched them with jealously at how close they were. 'Like us in the old times.' Giving them one last glance, she turned around and went into one of the rooms to wait until it was time for her and Arata to take the stage.


	15. Chapter 15

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to have all of you here for today's events!" Yuko greeted the crowd of students and teachers that had arrived for the ceremony. "I would like to thank everyone for coming here today and please drop by and use our facilities."

There was a polite applause from the crowd and it quickly died down as Yuko continued to speak. "For this day, I have prepared a special show consisting two of my former students who will demonstrate their skills of martial arts!"

Taking it as their cue, Arata and Mia stepped out from an adjacent room and stepped onto the mat set up in the middle of the hall. Mia had her hair tied up into a loose ponytail and removed her fingerless gloves. Arata on the other hand had removed his jacket and was wearing red training pants instead.

"Oi," Sakuya blinked. "Arata and Mia...they're doing the demonstration?"

"Seems like it." Hikaru remarked as Arata and Mia took their respective positions on the mat.

Haruki said nothing as he watched them. But deep down, he was interested to see how this fight will go.

"Ready?" Yuko called from the side of the mat.

Mia and Arata nodded and took their stances. Seeing that they were ready, Yuko nodded and blew her whistle. "Begin!"

They started exchanging blows and to everyone watching, they were evenly matched.

"I can't believe they are on par with each other. Their last fight was rather on sided on Mia's side." Reika softly remarked to Atsuya who was standing beside her.

Atsuya frowned. "That's not it. It is all part of Arata's plan."

"Eh?" Everyone nearby looked at him.

"Arata is not doing his best now. Rather, he is calculating Mia's movements and forming a strategy against it." Atsuya explained. "It has been one year since they last fought. That's why Arata is going easy on her at the moment to observe her."

"On the other hand, Mia gives her all in the beginning to end the fight quickly." Reika continued, starting to understand what Atsuya was trying to say. "This gives Arata a huge advantage."

"So that's it." Yuno said in realisation. A loud thud caught their attention and their averted their gaze back to the centre only to see Arata had floored Mia by hooking his ankle around her foot and tripped her.

"You got lucky." Mia huffed as she got up. A buzzer sounded to indicate that Mia had one fault.

"Reika, can you tell us how this demonstration works?" Takeru asked the red haired girl.

Reika nodded while keeping her gaze on Arata and Mia. "We have a system where if one side completely falls on the mat, he will have a fault. When one side gets two faults, the fight is over and the winner will be declared."

"So, Mia already has one fault...it means that she has to be careful." Atsuya mused.

* * *

Arata grunted as he tried to kick Mia but she kept on dodging by doing some back flips to put some distance between them. "Smart. But it is no use!"

He lunged at her and feinted a punch on her head, which she expectedly dodged by tilting her body to the right, Arata took this chance and kicked at her exposed side. Just when they thought that she would receive another fault, Mia flipped so that she was standing on her hands!

"What the-!"

Mia reared her legs and struck Arata on his chest like how a scorpion strikes with its tail, sending him to the mat. The buzzer sounded again and the both of them have one fault now.

* * *

"Wow...I was not expecting that." Vanessa whispered in awe.

"Arata did not seem to be expecting it either." Muraku nodded at the said person whose mind gears were working on a way to stop her from using that move again.

A smirk made its way to Arata's lips. "Great move Mia. But I'm afraid that I have seen through it."

"I know." Mia calmly replied. "That's why I won't use it again for this match."

"Just as expected of the both of them." Atsuya shook his head. "Arata is smart enough to figure it out while Mia is wise enough not to use the same surprise move twice in a match."

"Has it always been like this?" Yuno asked him.

Atsuya opened his mouth but it was Reika who answered. "Not usually, their competitive streak in these fights makes them fight more aggressively."

"Since this is just a short demonstration, they do not need to be aggressive." Atsuya added. "But their competitiveness is still there."

* * *

Back on the mats, Mia did a sideway punch to Arata's stomach and quickly flipped back to avoid any attacks Arata tries on her. Arata noticed this change of strategy and quickly made up his mind. He backed up a bit, much to everyone's confusion.

Mia frowned. 'What is he trying to do...Wait! Don't tell me-!'

She tried to move sideways but it was too late. Arata ran forward and did several flips, kicking and punching Mia each flip. Finally Mia cannot take it anymore and fell down, earning another fault.

"It looks like Mia has two faults already!" Yuko stepped on to the mat. "Therefore, Arata wins this round!"

Arata grinned and offered his hand to Mia who took it. "Great job! You were really good, especially with that handstand kick."

"You were pretty good yourself." Mia complimented.

"Alright, the both of you can go and take a break." Yuko said as she approached them. "I'm going to bring them on a tour of the building, so rest up until we get back."

"Hai!"

Atsuya grinned and handed each of them a towel. "Good job. Sis is quite please with your demonstration."

"Thanks." Arata dried the sweat on his face with the towel. "That was a real workout."

Mia nodded in agreement. "You've said it."

"But it was great." Reika said as she came over. "Everyone said so, including Muraku."

Mia looked up slightly. "I guess that's good."

* * *

"Reika, thanks for inviting us over." Suzune thanked the red head girl after the ceremony. "It was fun."

"Glad you enjoyed it." Reika cheerfully smiled. "Look, I still have to do some things here, so I won't be going back with you."

Takeru nodded. "Ok. See you at dinner."

"Bye."

Reika went back inside the building and went to Yuko's office which was on the fourth floor. "The last of them are gone." She declared as she entered the office.

Yuko nodded and gestured to the chair beside Mia for her to sit down. "Now that all of you are here and the excitement of the sports centre is gone, it's back to business."

There was a chorus of groans but they paid attention to what Yuko has to say.

"It is important that we find and retrieve the Gem of Wishes as soon as possible," Yuko began. "Before the Night Lurkers find out that it is gone from the academy. Although it has been two years since it ended up here, there have been no attacks on the academy so far, so they do not know that it is gone yet."

Arata frowned. "Have the sensors managed to detect its precise locate yet?"

Yuko nodded. "Yes." She took out a map from one of the drawers of her desk and spread it out. "It is here." She pointed at the red dot on the map which just so happen to be where the school is. "I think it is hidden a few hundred meters under the school."

Reika furrowed her brow. "Does this mean that it is in the Second World?"

"Most likely." Mia replied.

"Sis, what should we do about it?" Atsuya asked.

Yuko tapped her chin with a pen for a while. Finally she spoke, "For now, Mia, Arata and Reika will continue to monitor things in the Second World. Report anything suspicious to me. Atsuya and I will continue to find out more about the school from here."

Everyone nodded. "Hai."

Yuko nodded and looked at the clock. "It's getting late. The three of you should go back now."

Arata and Reika nodded and got up but Mia hesitated a bit. "Yuko-san, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Yuko was slightly surprised at the request but nodded and sent Atsuya out too. "Is there anything troubling you?"

Mia slowly nodded. "Ever since I came to the island, I've been getting these dreams that seem to show what would happen in the future."

If Yuko was surprise at this, she did not show it for she nodded at Mia to continue.

"And last night, I dream about both the demonstration and something else."

Yuko frowned. "You dream about that surprise move you used on Arata, right?"

Mia nodded. "It just came to me and I remembered that I dreamed about it..."

Yuko studied her for a moment. "You said that you dream about something else too. What is it?"

Mia seems to be scared of it for her hands were trembling a bit now. "The thing is...remember the pictures of the Shadow War that you showed us during my first year at the academy?"

Yuko slowly nodded, dreading where this was going to.

"Well...during my dream last night, it was real!" Mia gripped her hands together tightly. "I saw many Night Lurkers and us fighting in same battlefield as the one in the pictures!"

Yuko's mouth dropped wide open and she grabbed Mia by the shoulder. "Are you sure!?"

Mia nodded. "Yes. It was too real."

Yuko frowned and released Mia's shoulders. "If what you saw is true...then it means that there might be a chance that there will be a second Shadow War..." She gripped the edge of the table.

"But, I am not entirely sure if it will really happen." Mia cut in. "There are times where my dreams are 50/50 correct or never happened at all."

Yuko turned around sharply at her. "If that's true, then there is a chance we can prevent it...the Gem of Wishes can do it like it did before."

Mia frowned. "Should we tell the others?"

Yuko thought for a moment and shook her head. "Now is not the best time. We need to look further into your new ability. But in the mean time, I'm afraid I have to erase your memory of the second Shadow War."

Before Mia could protest, Yuko's eyes glowed green for a moment and Mia's eyes glowed in the same colour.

'I'm sorry, but this is for the best.' Yuko thought as the glow in her eyes faded.

Mia was a bit confused for a moment. "What happened?"

"You wanted to talk to me about your dreams and we found out it is future sight ability." Yuko lied.

Mia slowly nodded. "Ok..."

"Since we figured it out, I think you should go a back before it gets dark." Yuko opened the door for Mia to leave which she did.

As soon as Mia left, Yuko sighed and sank into her chair. "I hate to do this, but this is for the best."


	16. Chapter 16

I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.

* * *

"My beautiful students, you're all looking quite lovely this morning." The headmaster happily greeted the mass of students during the assembly that Monday morning. It was all Mia could do to not gag at his words but one glare from Arata made her squirm.

In front of them, Yuno whispered something to Haruki, "Haruki, I heard from some friends in another class earlier that Arabista asked Jenock to join their alliance."

That seems to turn Arata's attention from Mia. 'Arabista did?'

"Now, it's what you've all been waiting for," The headmaster continued and paused dramatically, "the announcement of who accumulated the most silver credits last week!" He paused again, looking at the tablet in his hands. "5th place this week goes to...Hosono Sakuya, middle school section, second year."

Sakuya gasped in disbelief. "Me!?"

Murmurs of admiration and disbelief rippled among the students as the headmaster continued speaking. "We have recognized his skills as a mechanic for his groundbreaking development of a new type of equipment. This development lent a great hand in Jenock's capture of Eldar City last week."

"Congratulations!" Mia praised him.

"You did it, Sakuya." Arata complimented.

"That's awesome."

"It's not that of a..." Sakuya did not have a chance to complete his sentence as the headmaster continued to talk.

"As you can see, even the mechanics can enter the rankings like this. I would like the rest of you to follow his example..."

Sakuya blushed as the headmaster continued his announcement. Arata and Mia exchanged grins and continued to focus on what the headmaster was saying.

* * *

"Looks like we have a star mechanic in our mist." Mia remarked during recess as she, Arata and Reika lazed around on the roof. "I nearly thought that for a moment Sakuya was going to faint."

"And it looks like we have a jealous mechanic down there." Arata said mildly from the ledge he was sitting on, looking at something down on the grounds.

"Hm?" Reika and Mia joined him and saw a familiar red head student in Rossius' uniform scribbling something into a notebook furiously, occasionally jabbing the table he was sitting at with his pencil.

"He looks a bit familiar..." Reika placed a thumb on her cheek as she tried to remember who that student was.

"He is Muraku's platoon mechanic." Mia told her. "I'm not surprise that he is jealous though. From my opinion, his mechanic skills his somewhat close to Sakuya and yet..."

"Sakuya got the recognition he did not get." Arata finished for her. "From what I think, he could get it if he is determined to do better, but jealously does not help."

Suddenly, Reika grabbed Arata and Mia by the shoulder and pulled them away from the ledge as Kageto looked up at where the three of them were earlier. Frowning, he turned back to his notebook which was full of scribes. He gritted his teeth and tried to think up of something that could be better than the ridding armor.

"…Maybe we should go back to class now." Reika nervously suggested as she peaked down again and much to her relief, Kageto did not seem to have noticed them.

Arata nodded and turned to Mia, "Are you coming?"

Mia blinked and shook her head. "You go first. I still want to stay here for a while."

"…Ok, just don't be late for class."

Once Arata and Reika left, Mia sighed and closed her eyes tightly. Ever since she discovered her future sight abilities, she could not sleep well, staying up most of the night trying to figure out how to use the ability properly. She was so lost in thought that she did not notice the door opening and someone approaching her until she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her jump.

But she relaxed a bit when she saw that it was only her brother. "Oh, Muraku."

"Sorry for startling you." Muraku glanced down to see Kageto who was still there. "I wanted to look out for Kageto from here."

Mia followed her brother's gaze and smiled a bit at him. "His current situation reminds me a lot of myself whenever I feel frustrated that you are better than me."

Muraku flicked his eyes at her and back at Kageto. "What do you suggest I do?"

"Leave him be for a while." Mia advised him. "When he has cooled down, talk to him."

Muraku nodded. "Thanks."

Mia smirked and turned around so that her back was leaning on the metal fence. "It has been too long since we had a proper conversation like this."

Muraku had to agree on that. Most of the time, they were arguing or Mia would be hostile at him. He looked over at Mia who had her eyes closed and enjoying the wind in her hair.

"Do you ever miss those times when we were younger?" Mia suddenly asked.

Muraku cocked his head a bit. "Maybe a little."

Mia chuckled a bit. "Do you remember the time when we accidentally locked ourselves out of the house for one whole day? We ended up playing at the park and nearly gave mom and dad a panic attack when they got home and we weren't there."

The edges of Muraku's lips twitched a bit as a smile threaten to form on his lips. "Ah, that was one of the best times we had."

"I really wish that we could go back to those times." Mia said wistfully. "Things were much easier then."

Muraku's face fell a bit. "Ah." He agreed quietly.

Mia got up from the fence. "Ma, it's best not to dwell on memories. We each have our own jobs to do."

Muraku frowned a bit as he understood what she was saying. "True…"

Mia walked over to the door and opened it slightly when she remembered something. "Be careful. I have a feeling that your mission will be harder from now on."

Muraku frowned a bit but nodded nevertheless. "Take care of yourself too."

* * *

Later during lunch, the main discussion was about why Mito-sensei declined Arabista's offer to join their alliance.

"I wonder why Mito-sensei refused them." Yuno wondered as she sat with her platoon.

"What a waste." Catherin complained. "We had this great chance to join the Arabista Allied Force!"

"But if we join, then we have to follow Arabista's orders." Arata pointed out.

"Not to mention that Mito-sensei did the right thing to rely on our own strength." Mia added. "If we rely on someone else to do our own work, it would be bad for Jenock itself."

"But," Yuno spoke up, "Arabista stresses the importance on being an 'alliance'. They don't take over countries like Rossius does."

"The key point is our independence." Arata told her. "Mito-sensei believes that Jenock should be an independent country, that's why she turned down that offer."

"But if you think about it realistically, forming an alliance would be better for us..." Haruki added his input.

"Mito-sensei's decision was right." Hikaru suddenly spoke. His words made everyone look at him.

"All the virtual countries are enemies by default." He continued. "It is too dangerous to trust someone that might betray you at any moment."

"Joining an alliance means becoming allies, you know!" Catherin protested.

Picking up his tray, Hikaru stood up to leave, but not before saying something, "You can't even trust your allies. In the end, the only one you can believe in is yourself."

"What is his problem?" Catherin complained once Hikaru was out of ear shot.

Arata watched him for a moment and sighed. "He has a point when he said that Mito-sensei was right and that the virtual countries are enemies by default."

"Don't tell me you agree with him?!" Catherin  
exclaimed in horror.

Arata calmly shook his head. "No, I only agree that Mito-sensei's judgment is correct and that the virtual nations are enemies. I disagree that we should not trust our allies."

A small smile crept up Mia's lips. "Rather, we should form alliances with people who have the same goals as Jenock or our actions will clash."

"That's true." Sakuya nodded in agreement. "But, how long can we last alone?"

"Have faith in our comrades." Arata advised him. "It is the key factor to our success."

* * *

"Tome-san, we're back." Arata greeted as he, Haruki and Sakuya returned to the dorms. Mia was not with them as she had stayed back to wait for Reika as they had agreed to go shopping earlier.

"Welcome back. You're quick today." Tome-san greeted them.

"Our platoon did not have a mission today." Sakuya explained as they put away their outdoor shoes.

"Then, would you care to help me with some chores?" Tome-san asked, making the three boys flinch.

"Cleaning out the back and fixing the roof…" She listed. "Oh, and the laundry too."

"I need to complete the ridding armor..." Sakuya stated nervously. He quickly put on his indoor shoe and went back to his room. "Sorry!"

"I need to write up a report." Haruki stated and went back to his room, leaving Arata alone.

'Dang it!' Arata silently cursed. 'How can those two leave me to Tome-san on my own?!'

"You look free." Tome-san noticed.

Arata tried to rack his brain to think up of an excuse but came up blank. Sighing, he stood up and asked, "Just cleaning, fixing and laundry, right?"

Tome-san grinned sadistically. "Yup, the tools are right by the rack."

* * *

"That was a drag." Mia complained as she and Reika walked back to the dorms. "I could not find the book that I need and they don't sell guitar strings here."

Reika shrugged. "Maybe we should ask Yuko-nee to help us buy the things that we need the next time she goes to the mainland."

"Good idea." She paused for a moment when she spotted Arata on the roof. "Hm, what is Arata doing up there?"

Reika followed her gaze and quirked an eyebrow. "Beats me." She cupped her hands to her mouth and called her brother, "Arata, what are you doing up there?"

Arata looked up as he wiped off the sweat on his brow with his sleeves. "Oh, you're back. Tome-san needed some help in chores, so Sakuya and Haruki volunteered me by leaving me alone to deal with her." He said sarcastically.

Reika and Mia sweat dropped and exchanged wry smiles. "Then can we help you?"

"Ah, good of you girls." Tome-san said coming up to them from behind, making them jump. "You can help with the laundry then. Arata, you can rest after you fix the roof."

"Thanks." Arata waved and gave the girls an apologetic smile. They sighed and followed Tome-san inside to do the laundry.


End file.
